An Early Ascension
by TiberianSun371Alexw
Summary: Lelouch vi Britannia encounters inconvinence, setbacks, and near disaster in his quest for justice for his mother and revenge. It would be so much easier if he was abolute monarch of 1/3 of the world.
1. The Day a New Demon was Born Lelouch Con

into the truck of some local Eleven terrorists. It was clear that these people had fallen low. While Lelouch sympathized with the nationalist sentiment in the defeated Japanese, guerilla tactics encouraged the Britannians to commit more brutality to the local population. After all, if the terrorists pretend to part of the local civilians, what is to say that a random group of what appears to be civilians are actually law abiding?

His thoughts turned to his immediate surroundings. A familiar voice offered to take on the pursuers. Did that girl look familiar? There was an argument over whether or not to use "that thing" but the girl protested it would basically be a massacre. A mechanical sound and destruction sound came. It was possibly a helicopter crash. More sounds were made and soon the driver and girl were aggravated and sound like they were fleeing. The truck took a swerve.

Based on the ragged movements of consistent interval bumps, the truck must have gone across the old rail lines. Based on the direction the truck moved, this was probably heading into the old Shinjuku Ghetto. Lelouch ineffectively searched his surroundings again. He got into the truck by trying to be a Good Samaritan instead of observing the accident like everyone else. That's why he climbed the ladder. Honestly, at least put a ladder on the inside too! It looks like he would have to rely on the army to rescue him. The terrorists transmitter might be useful.

The truck drove into a dead end. The driver of the truck ordered his companion to escape while he stayed behind with the package. Soon the truck reached an endpoint. Or perhaps it was stuck. The engine was certainly running.

A hissing sound was made the truck door opened with a pneumatic sounding system. Le Lelouch realized if the terrorists caught him they might try to use him as a bargaining chip. If he was used as a way to be released instead of captured for trial, the police might sympathize but the military had taken over and clearly he was no use to them. If they thought he was a wealthy noble and wanted funds for their cause… well Lelouch Lamperouge legally had no living parents and was only modestly wealthy due to careless nobles. Lelouch vi Britannia had a very wealthy father who didn't know he was alive and obviously didn't care if he STAYED alive. If Lelouch climbed on that thing, perhaps he could let a terrorist pass him and then he could go around the man.

A Britannian soldier in a gas mask with a high tech looking visor came in with a spinning kick. Lelouch was knocked prone. "Don't kill anyone!" ordered the soldier as he wrapped his hand around Lelouch's neck. "And poison gas on top of that!"

Lelouch tried to shove the assailant, but although knocked back the soldier landed on his feet with his arms in combat stance. "It was Britannia that made the poison gas in the firs place wasn't it?" Poison gas! It was so abhorrent that even the Holy Britannian Empire said it should not be used against humans. Of course, given the dialogue of the terrorists, it seems that they stole if from the HBE. Charles di Britannia was not above the occasional hypocrisy, but normally Britannians see any instrument of war fair game for Social Darwinism on the national scale. For them to condemn its use was already saying something even if they didn't practice what they preached. "Don't kill? Then destroy Britannia!"

The soldier unmasked himself. It was Suzuku, Lelouch's childhood friend. Lelouch was surprised that Suzuku joined the Britannian Army. After all, didn't they invade Japan? Lelouch and Suzuku were separated years ago in violent circumstances where both had every reason not to assume the other would make it out alive. And wasn't the invasion of Japan what caused his beloved father to commit suicide? Perhaps Suzuku was now thinking himself as a normal orphan who needed money rather than the son of a man driven to suicide. £ £ £

They didn't have much time to reminisce. The spherical capsule started to open up and gas started rushing out. Suzuku covered Lelouch's mouth and reached for his mask. Angelic music could be heard and the whole capsule glowed. A long haired human figure made a motion arching its back seemingly unsupported. Its knees were on the ground but its center of gravity was certainly unsupported as it made the arcing. The hair moved unnaturally and it glowed too, brighter than the background of the capsule. A slick translucent highly viscous fluid covered the figure. A… girl? As she finished her motion, her eyes closed and she lost consciousness. Te viscous fluid came off in mat like materials, clearly very adherent to itself, but not adherent to her clothing or skin any more than water would. She worse something similar to a white straightjacket with three lateral restrains, many zippers, and a gag. The suit had a rather long sleeve which extended to her cuffs. Lelouch took the mystery girl into his arms and held her by the shoulder and hip. Both boys were puzzled.

"The briefing said there was poison gas. Did he read if off someone who copy and pasted the wrong item or made a typo?" said Suzuku.

A light came on. Clovis's personal unit had arrived on the scene. The officer likely used army regulars like Suzuku to scout out the dangerous ghetto but wanted to retrieve the poison himself. Lelouch suspected Clovis stood to lose favor with Charles if it were known he had this mystery green haired girl.

The officer immediately ordered Lelouch's death, despite correctly identifying him as a Britannian student. Suzuku protested and was shot, dying before Lelouch's eyes. Lelouch heard someone mutter "Long live japan." He grabbed the girl and ducked for cover. An explosion rocketed the area and the Britannian soldiers were scattered. Their uniforms were unusual, perhaps they reported to Clovis directly instead of being part of the larger military structure.

After removing the arm restraints, Lelouch threw the girl to the ground. "All this commotion is your fault! And Britannia… Britannia even killed Suzuku!" Lelouch carefully advanced. This was some sort of connection to the above ground. "Listen you stay here." Lelouch saw the same unit that killed Suzuku. It looked like they were ready to leave after a few killings.

Shirley called Lelouch and his phone rang. The guards turned around, capturing the green haired girl and punning Lelouch to a wall. The girl's gag was put in to place loosely. The officer made a few remarks and prepared to shoot Lelouch. Suddenly, the green haired girl broke free from her captors and the (very loose) gag. "Don't kill him!" she cried.

The bullet entered her forehead as a strange flow appeared on it. She fell back instantly killed. "Humph, I would have preferred her alive" said the officer. Lelouch trembled in fear. "What is this… Suzuku… this girl too… am I going to meet my end here too? Without being able to do anything? Nunnally!" thought Lelouch.

Suddenly the girl grabbed Lelouch and his vision stop displaying the material world but a vision. Blue background appeared and he seemed to be moving as streaks of lights went around him. The girl's naked body, a lifeless sphere above what appeared to be Earth, a group of what appeared to be cultists all appeared before his eyes. "If you have power will you live? This is a contract. I'll grant you power, but in return I want you to grant one of my wishes. If you agree to the contract, you will live as a human but different than other humans. A different destiny, a different time, a different life… The power of kings will isolate you." Said the girl Lelouch saw his father and his father was saying something.

"Fine! I'll bind that contract" Lelouch said. His vision quickly returned to the material world. He gave the soldiers about to kill him a threat. He activated the power of his left eye. "I, Lelouch vi Britannia order you bastards to die!" All the soldiers quickly pointed their guns at their heads.

"Yes, your highness!" the officer exclaimed. All of them shot themselves. Lelouch was surprised the power he was offered by the green haired girl actually worked. Then a not so friendly grin spread across his face. From that day on, his life would be made of lies.


	2. Sutherland vs Lancelot

Sutherland vs Lancelot

A blue Sutherland KnightMare appeared in front of Lelouch. A long silver haired young pilot was in her 8th battle, although this was more of a cleanup than a battle. Villetta Nu looked around the wrecked building. Pure visual (naked eye-like or camera-like) inspection would take too long so she activated her fact-sphere. Infantry units laid around in corpses. She quickly found an insignia on what appeared to be the commissioned officer.

"Why? His highness's personal unit?" she said. Terrorists should not have been able to overpower Clovis's personal unit. A lone civilian had gone from a devilish grin he had before her appearance, followed by examining her once he noticed her. Villetta did the same. He was dark haired, handsome looking and appeared to be a Britannian student by his uniform, obviously not part of the "purge" order. The order form Clovis was to purge for potential guerillas hiding in the civilians, not kill witnesses. The civilian now appeared indifferent, having assessed her. She activated the speakers and interrogated the student. Villetta followed up with a few good shots into the building wall.

"Get down from here right now' said Lelouch Lemporage activating his left eye.

"Who do you think you are?" said Villetta, curious.

"I see… it's useless without eye contact" thought Lelouch. He needed to gain the trust of the soldier. "I am Alan Spacer. My father is a duke" he said, spreading his arms wide. "I have an ID card in my pocket. I would like to request protection after you check it."

Villetta was somewhat nervous. Not only had a Britannian ended up in the Shinjuku Ghetto, but child of a duke was in a place infested with terrorists. When would these youngsters learn to stay away from dangerous places? It was up to her to keep him safe. She put her KnightMare on standby mode. Weapons and seasons went into a low power mode, active data processes were moved to RAM and went quinccent. Only three major device drew larger power including the engine. Villetta opened up and stepped down with a handgun. "Keep your hands up. I will check the ID myself"

"Give me your KnightMare" said Lelouch as his left eye hid behind a red orange glow dominated by a bird like icon.

"All right. The access number is XG21G2D4." The soldier replied as her eyes covered in an orange glow. She threw over the keys and held her gun out for Lelouch to take.

"All right" said Lelouch. He climbed into the KnightMare and started it. Lelouch considered killing the girl soldier. He could step on her, shoot her, throw some rubble, or the slash harkens. Then again, his power would have been absolutely worthless if the hapless pilot didn't give him the benefit of bout. Lelouch would be dead if not for her goodwill. It's not like a subordinate or someone important to Lelouch could possibly mess something up for him by thinking this girl had a pretty face. She could be left alive. Lelouch left the ruin.

"What am I doing?" asked Villetta three minutes later. Her memories were vague. The last clear memory was half an hour ago. The most recent was a haze, an echo. There was a high school student related to a nobleman she needed to bring to safety. How she was going to do that with no KnightMare… or the student was a mystery. Did she just space out and the student went away? What about the KnightMare? Those don't get impatient and walk away by themselves!

Suzuku woke up to see a lavender-silver haired man in glasses and a young blue haired woman standing over him. He was in some kind of a hospital bed. The man poked fun at him as both gave him exposition. His flak jacket was punctured by a bullet, but his pocket watch he wore around his neck at that time protected him.

"The poison gas has begun to spread out. Looks like ti caused a lot of damage among the Elevens" said the man. "Private Kururugi, do you have any experience piloting a KnightMare frame?"

"No way. A person born Eleven can't become a knight" said Suzuku. And if you can't be a knight or hereditary noble, you can't pilot one of those.

"And what if you could" said the lavender haired man smiling.

Meanwhile, a battle raged on. A broken Glasgow shot a slash harken into an old Britannian tank, piercing it and rupturing the ammunition storage. Two other tanks were pushed aside by red KnightMare.

The KnightMare's internal communication spoke up. "Kallen, is your Glasgow operational?"

"I'm fine. Get the people out of here. It's better if only the resistance gets caught" said the pink haired pilot.

"I understand, but we're surrounded right now" said a brown man wearing some kind of bandana and coat. He had a large backpack serving as a transmission relay. His men were using many weapons to try to fight off the soldiers.

AK-47s, RPG-7s, Molotov cocktails, and revolvers dominated their arsenal. Most of the soldiers and vehicles could be dealt with. They only needed to buy time after all. The problem was the KightMares. Though small in number relative to the perimeter, they were closing the noose. The small arms had to be aimed at an exhaust port to have any effect on an intact KnightMare. Even then, it would take over half an hour for KnightMare with a shot up exhaust system before the cooling system was no longer able to send heat into the gas to be expelled due to temperature equalization. The shot up ports would not release streams of hot air, but the air would diffuse if the ports were not blocked. A KnightMare armor was thinner than the old tank armor and offered just as much protection. Since grenades were not shaped charges and the RPG-7 (a launcher not a missile type) shot rocket propelled grenades, it would take three hits in the same place to cause a penetration, except in certain weak spots that made less than 10% of the target, most of which would never be exposed to the front. Hitting a KightMare's leg armor 3 times should cause a penetration. Alternately, one hit should weaken it enough to allow a few thousand bullets to continue denting and thinning until a penetration could be done. The problem was that while not more durable than the old tanks, a KnightMare had more firepower, was tactically faster, and really difficult to hit with anything slower than a bullet beyond ten meters. The noose was closing.

At Ashford academy an orange haired girl in the locker room picked up a cell call. "Lelou, what are you doing? Where are you"

"Is there a TV there? Is there anything on Shinjuku?" said Lelouch.

"Nothing but some traffic control" said Shirley. She was getting worried about Lelouch's string of absences. "Hey, you're doing some kind of weird gambling right now aren't you?" said Shirley. "It's dangerous"

"Yeah I know. Oh tell my little sister I'm going to be late for dinner" said Lelouch, hanging up the phone. Lelouch entered in the access number into the system. Now it wouldn't lock him out of using the gun, the key alone only allowed basic movement. In addition, he was able to pick up the most recent friend or foe code.

The Sutherland was the first KnightMare made with the possibility of fighting… other Kightmares. Yeah, if you curbstomp with these weapons apparently other people want them, something older generations did not take into consideration. The new IFF system allowed each pilot to pick a common code before deployment. This had the IFF system send encrypted signals to HQ and each other. Units would be displayed on a stylized map, allowing the commander to know tactical disposition. Local units also know that any active KnightMare not sending the signal is either damaged or not one of their own. Earlier generations used simple encrypted transmissions, allowing talk but not explicitly displaying position. Older models used a signal to notify each other's position at short range only; unencrypted since any KnightMare had to be their own.

Lelouch saw a chessboard and left the vehicle to pick it up. He thought the tactical map was similar to a chess game. Reinforcements had already arrived, so all the pieces were likely on the board. Getting through this many enemies alone will be difficult. It would be even more dangerous to request for protection. The direction solution would be to go through and hope that no one thinks to shoot one of their own. After all, Lelouch could just use the most recent IFF code and make an excuse like maintenance was missed. Yes… that is the simplest solution to get out alive, something he didn't think was possible half an hour ago. Alternately, he could do something complicated and make the terrorists who put him into this mess pay him back for the trouble they caused with a complicated plan.

A cocky turquoise-silver haired Sutherland pilot saw the target in sights, the red one-armed Glasgow. Margrave/Marquis Jeremiah Gottwald was ready for a good fight. He personally preferred this. It was not the best for a soldier to be in a losing battle. But in this case, he had the advantage, having a better machine, a partner, and several friendly units nearby, while the enemy was still a thread. The slash harken on the obsolete KnightMare could hit with more energy than an RPG, and it was more accurate against a moving KightMare to boot. Jerimiah knew he had to not let his guard down completely and watch for a trap whenever it was out of his sight. Still, as long as a friendly unit sighted the enemy, he knew what to do.

Kallen looked at her energy levels. Things were not looking good. Most of the energy used in a moving KnightMare was either moving or passive, so she could use all her weapons or features and still not significantly drain the battery. The bad news about hat was that her energy would be gone in half an hour and there wasn't anything she could do about it other than not move in the first place.

The radio cracked to life. "Use the railroad and move toward the west exit" said the voice.

"Who are you? How do you know this code?" said Kallen, worried.

"It doesn't matter who I am. If you want to win, believe in me" said Lelouch on the other side of the radio.

Kallen complied and started on the railroad. A supply train was on its way. Jerimiah was in hot pursuit.

"Since you believed in me, I'll let you win" said Lelouch. "Jump on this train"

Jerimiah Gottwald pushed back against the train. He ordered his subordinate to continue perusing the enemy. The subordinate was in the emotion of jumping. Suddenly a pair of slash harkens ripped apart the midair Sutherland. "Attacking one of our own?" said Jerimiah. "You bastard, what squadron are you from? The enemy has one arm!" The Sutherland in the building retracted its slash harken and started firing its gun. The firing wasn't well aimed, only 30% of them hit Jerimiah's KnightMare, despite being still. Jerimiah released the train, letting the Eleven continue to use it to cover his/her escape while Jerimiah took evasive action.

Lelouch was still getting used to the controls. Almost of them like the joystick for movement were similar to the Ganymede he piloted thrice the year before. In fact some were the same. Unfortunately, the modern Sutherland had new features. The IFF controls were fairly simple. But the slash harken was new to him. It also had the ability to roll not just on flat surfaces, but on rails too to move faster. The Sutherland's feet were md mobile. Oh, and being a decommissioned Ganymede, they took away the _gun_ too. His options were to either use the arm manual controls or the specialized program with preset certain movements in the arm to aim the gun in each direction. Lelouch could not hit a moving target with the gun very well at all. The enemy pilot was fairly good at fighting and landed three hits on Lelouch, despite the ruined building giving Lelouch a hitbox 32% the size of what he was shooting at and that his target was shooting and dodging at the same time while Lelouch only worried about shooting. The target took a pause in firing to get its bearings. Lelouch used this opportunity to try to spray and pray. Lelouch hit the left leg once, destroying he armor and damaging some inner mechanisms. However the target's leg was still in one piece. It was standing and not damaged enough to interfere with walker type motion.

Jerimiah was horrified. He was starting to lose the fight, but that was OK with him except for pride issues. The problem was that the enemy had a Sutherland when the Intel was that they only had one KnightMare. What's worse, it was displaying on the tactical map as releasing a friendly IFF signal. If the terrorists gotten some Sutherlands and set their own code, only 32 codes out of millions would display on his screen, and only one would be displayed as friendly, most would simply not be detectable with his settings. "Don't tell me the terrorists stole…!" said Jerimiah. He reaimed his gun at the Sutherland in the ruin. "Bastard!"

Jerimiah was standing on the old rail. It was a short opening Kallen would not let pass. She went to full speed and punched Jeremiah's Sutherland. Taking severe damage, Jerimiah ejected.

"I'm saved! But where did you get a Sutherland?" said Kallen. There was nobody in the building.

Ogi arrived with some of his resistance cell. He was relieved Kallen was safe, but the enemy was still closing in

"Are you the leader?" asked Lelouch over the radio.

"Yes?" answered Ogi.

"I'll give you the stuff inside the train as a present. If you want to win, use the and follow my command!" said Lelouch. The train cars opened, revealing military supplies and blue Sutherlands. The terrorists were suitably impressed.

"This is amazing! Maybe we should listen to him for a bit" said blond terrorist.

"The girl in the Glasgow. Stay there, that machine is good for confusion tactics" said Lelouch. The one armed KnightMare was what the enemy would be looking for. "How is your energy filler?'

"About fifteen minutes"

"Then get a new pack. In ten minutes, I'll give you new orders" said Lelouch. He deactivated his radio. "This is more tiring that I thought" The Sutherland itself was not as easy to pilot as he thought. But he knew that this game the stakes were lives.

Lelouch started giving his new subordinates codenames. He didn't know the by name, and didn't really care. They got him into this mess and he wasn't going to get attracted to any one of them until he was out of it. Or maybe he'll never see them again and not get attached anyways.

The terrorists started to get into the KnightMares. The controls were similar to the Glasgow they had practiced with, but they never had any field experience. 70 KnightMares and only 15 bad pilots to use them. Ogi ordered those guarding the civilians and his rearguard to come to his location.

A trio of Britannian KightMares continued to go along their previous path. They would help the purge while another squad took care of the Glasgow that had already been spotted. Suddenly bullets started piercing the nearby ruin and their machines. "What?" said one pilot before he ejected and his partners were killed.

"P1, P4, P7, move 100 meters to the right and fire slash harkens in the three o'clock direction" said Lelouch

"All right, listen to that voice" called out Ogi, their leader.

Far away in his personal land ship/HQ, Clovis and some officers were watching signals of their own units go down. Three separate ambushes had come and they still didn't know what was going on. "Impossible. Out machines are being outmaneuvered by terrorists" said Clovis.

Kallen used her slash harken to scale a building. A Britannian was engaging three of her allies in Sutherlands and some of her allies on foot. She punched it as he opened his fact sphere to watch for an ambush, like what she just did.

"Lord Glaube has ejected! The machine signal is lost" said general Bartley.

"Change the signal! Our transmissions are being monitored" said a blond haired man named Cornelius. He was a general three ranks below, but still allowed HQ clearance and had come back from a bathroom break. General Cornelius had three Marquis Titles, was earl of a place in the Virginia area, and had a barony inside that county. Despite this, he was a veteran of the invasion of Japan and now he felt deserving of his rank. "I think the enemy has a few KnightMares they mobilized from some hidden reserve.

"We already did" said one officer who was present the whole time. "And we haven't gotten a single report about who we are facing"

"R2 Louch anchor" said Lelouch. A helicopter pilot went down. "B7, a UN round" said Lelouch. He started playing chess against his KnightMare's computer. One terrorist shot the designating round into an APC. "Group N, move forward" said Lelouch. Seven KightMares advanced on three Britannian KnightMares and a tank. The Britannians fired back and retreated, but to their left, three more Sutherlands attacked them with slash harkens and another one appeared in the back with a gun. "I7, flush out that spotter behind you" he said. A group of terrorists descended on a lone Britannian KnightMare. It had been shot and it couldn't sue its guns, but it was trying to keep an eye for ambushes against its allies. Small arms fire punctured the twisted damage armor. "P3, P13, P31, stop the group on the streets" said Lelouch. The three noob pilots each took his KnightMare and started pinning a group of ten Britannian Sutherlands in place. They could not land decisive blows. "I1, get them now" a rebel commander ordered his guys to shoot at the Britannians. Now they were within 3 meters of their targets who were taking over and closed off their fact-spheres against rebel Sutherlands they were blind to man sized targets to their right. RPG-7s were used against those weak points. One took a hit to the hip joint and two others took hits to the exhaust ports, disabling he machines. One person under I1 strapped a shaped charge to a KnightMare, killing the leg instantly. "I32, kill the backup column" said Lelouch. A group blew up 3 tanks and started putting small arms fire into an armored car's tires, disabling it, and then its fact-sphere, rendering it blind. "Q1, get the Sutherland." Kallen charged in and shot a slash harken at the Sutherland who no longer had any sense of what was going on.

"Lazarus squadron signals have disappeared" said General Bartley. He restricted communications so that HQ would only listen to its immediate subordinates using a KnightMare's native communication instead of headsets, plus three infantry officers previously selected. There was so much chatter that listening to every officer, including downed ones cursing over their headset coms, were drowning out battlefield reports.

"See? Some of our guys had spotted enemy Sutherlands. They had no IFF signal and shot our own on sight. If you had listened to me, our causalities before knowing what we were up against would be a third of what they were. We took many losses just o figure that out" said Cornelius

"Now! Deploy the Quincy Squadron" said Clovis.

Lelouch was glad the IFF could be used against the enemy. Not only did he know where they were, but three separate times he made an ambush work against smarter than average forces because they thought an ally who was separated from his squad. While he didn't join their formations or communicate with them, it appeared to them that an ally was watching that flank and therefore no need to watch that area. Now the enemy had five options. Lelouch was worried about the adequacy of his own forces. Due to so many things happening, one KnightMare engaged Britannian one on one head on and lost. During his ambushes, the casualty ratio was in Lelouch's favor, but he had some losses and the terrorists were clueless on how to spot Britannian infantry, often letting them walk straight up to the KnightMare legs to make point blank rocket shots. The fact spheres only highlighted identified vehicles by default and none of the terrorists knew how to even interpret data from a highlighted object, much less change the settings. In addition, some enemies were able to use a KnightMare effectively enough to inflict some damage. Some of the terrorist didn't know they could move at triple speed by using their rollers on flat surfaces, or move even faster on a train rail, so they went to walker mode, greatly reducing the dodging power. Others kept crashing and resorting to defaulting to walker mode. While having the ability to move across rubble and rugged terrain that even tracks can't cross is an advantage to walker mode locomotion, it wasn't the fastest when there were plenty of (unmaintained) roads to sue.

Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald saw a tank destroyer, three APCs, and three Sutherlands pass him. He recognized one of them as the Quincy squadron. "Are they going to break formation?" he asked. That would only work if they knew where the bulk of the enemy forces were, they outnumbered the enemy three to one in troops, KnightMares, and penetrating weapons (a KnightMare, an artillery piece, an RPG, or the Britannian anti-tank rocket launcher counts), and if they knew friend from foe. "This is Jeremiah Gottwald. The enemy doesn't just have multiple KnightMares. They stole one of our machines. I repeat, they stole one of our machines. Do not trust your IFF displays unless you are in communication with them or line of sight" said Jeremiah into his microphone/earpiece combo on his right ear. Alas, no one but Villetta was listening.

Lelouch needed to prepare the major ambush, but not all of his units were in position. Three groups of three KnightMares were closing from separate directions and would make things difficult. He couldn't figure out how to ambush them in such a short time before they spotted what he was planning. Lelouch only needed 12 of his surviving KnightMares to pull this off. He ordered some of his ground units to intercept the incoming patrol, in cover if possible, but they must not get too close to their gather ambush.

The first KnightMare group was attacked head on my Lelouch's intercepting force. The ten terrorists shot lots of bullets, but failed to make much contact on the advancing group which was dodging most shots. Once the distance was closed, the Britannians destroyed seven of them in KnightMare melee. One of them was partially damaged by a panicked terrorist who shot into the melee indiscriminately. The last of Lelouch's terrorist allies in a KnightMare in that group shot a slash harken into one of them, disabling it before he himself was shot. Another Britannian KnightMare had three gaping holes from being shot at, but was still operational. Terrorists on the group shot into the holes with small arms, killing key electronics. A Britannian solider ordered a bayonet charge into the terrorists scattering 3/4 and killing the rest. KnightMare casualties: 10 to 23

The second KnightMare group was several blocks away. Lelouch tried to organize an ambush, but when he ordered the group to roll, one of them collided into the others. About to get hit in the flank, they formed up a Napoleonic-era line to meet the enemy head on. "Q1, get on the building so the south of the engagement" Shots were fired, but the enemy had better aim against moving targets. One terrorist Sutherland was destroyed by slash harkens while another was simply shot. Once the distance was closed, a melee started and the terrorists were losing badly. Kallen fell from the sky and punched one of the Britannians. It wasn't a disabling blow and the two of them fought. They traded blows. Kallen got two more punches in, but was losing due to the whole "one arm" thing. Her KnightMare was forced to knees. The enemy had forgotten his original target who managed to melee his machine to death. The second enemy machine went down to RPG fire into a place already weakened by fighting the terrorist KnightMare. The third one was ganged up on. KnightMare casualties: 7 to 3.

The third KnightMare group communicated with Britannian infantry units. They knew where 9machines were in place to ambush them. Rather than counter ambush, they attacked head on, knowing where to aim. Both sides shot at each other and dodged, but three of the terrorist machines went down to slash harkens. Those take time before they can redeploy, but the Britannians closed the distance. Suddenly, it was revealed there were10 (or s7 now) they were fighting, not 9. Having disabled one KnightMare, the Britannians thought that that side of the building was safe, but another was behind it. A rocket infantryman shot that one, freeing his KnightMare comrades from the surprise. The Britannians got in melee range, butchering the enemy machines. KnightMare Casualties: 10 to 0!

Elizabeth Smith was a blue haired fourteen year old pilot. Her father was a Marquis and an earl. Elizabeth followed her older brother into the army. The larger title would be her brother's on the account of being a guy, but she hoped to prove to her father she could inherit and be a countess. She had proven herself to be a much better manager than her older sister and slightly better than her bother. Elizabeth had connections that would make minor nobles within the county more likely to respect her. The blue haired girl knew she only needed to serve in the army to get the respect to her father. She didn't need to be a better pilot than her brother, already a commissioned officer, or even a good pilot, just a loyal one.

Three enemy Sutherlands tried to ambush her from the right, but Elizabeth saw them ahead of time. It seemed they were settling in, but didn't have enough time to stop showing up on the movement sensor mode of the fact sphere. She should have regrouped to HQ after her unit was killed, but this was her first taste in combat. She started moving evsivastly and shot up one of them. A slash harken disabled one. The shot one was still moving, but she got in melee range and disabled it fast. Soon she was one on one in melee with the last terrorist, who didn't seem to know what he was doing once the KnightMare had its armed pinned and couldn't aim the gun, even if it was mounted INTO the arm it would not have been effective. He went down fast. KnightMare casualties: 3 to 0.

Elizabeth felt a little shaken. Leg armor was damaged and exposing her machine to small arms fire. She didn't expect that a lone KnightMare would be this exposed without support. Despite her training, she felt that if she had waited 15 seconds, it would have ended quite differently. She noticed something strange about the battle reports. Anti-tank rockets were used effectively against the enemy. The armor on a Glasgow didn't offer more protection than tanks of its era, but they were hard to hit. The man portable rockets had little chance to get any KnightMare on a road, even in a side ambush situation, or in forests. In a ruin or ghetto, the Sutherland was more maneuverable that its predecessors in addition to more firepower, meaning that an alert pilot is more or less invulnerable to those.

Lelouch bought the necessary time for his plan. "What's this? They took the most foolish options" His main group was now in range of the desired position. He realized he only needed to block one of the groups he tried to delay. With 10 to 3 odds, his own forces should have prevailed, but they died doing nothing but buying the necessary time. The terrorists showed deficiencies in piloting. They didn't roll across the group properly, colliding often when they did. They were nearly hopeless should the enemy close the distance, even with infantry. Third, in a head on fight the terrorists kept losing advantageous battles. They were subpar shots, their most accurate weapon being the slash harken, where they were almost as good as fresh military graduates. Real pilots were better shots with the guns than the slow moving and somewhat dodgeable (if the target is a Kightmare) slash harken. It was almost as if they practiced using their stolen KnightMare in a garage. It doesn't matter, he was ready. "Q1, is this map accurate?" said Lelouch, referring to a map he took from the terrorist truck.

"Yes, the one for the old city" said Kallen.

"Good enough" said Lelouch.

"Enclose them! Concentrate your firepower" said Clovis, in the HQ. He could 8 KnightMare spotters as well as infantry one to look for an ambush.

"The enemy stole a machine. One or more of the IFF signals is bogus" said Jeremiah

In case you're wondering, Lelouch is the only one against Clovis using the IFF with that deployment's code. The rest of them don't because it would be suspicious to have a group of "friendlies" in ambush position against all the guys who you lose.

"Mission number three" said Lelouch.

"The main terrorist force is in the middle. Crush them" said Clovis.

The Britannians closed in to what appeared to be large ruin, with clearing unusually high for the ground floor. An artillery piece and the convention vehicles Jeremiah saw went in. APCs unloaded the infantry, who took positions outside the kill zone.

Lelouch's units were in an underground tunnel. Three Sutherlands and the Glasgow fused their slash harkens on the weakened foundation. Suddenly, the ground caved in. 24 Sutherlands and some tanks fell into the group. 30 more were outside the new hole, but got hit by slash harkens and RPGs. Since the part of the unit in front of them where annihilated, they were in no positon to effectively fight back. One of them realized they had the high ground and ordered a mass firing into the hole just as what was previously planned for the building. Unfortunately, seven more enemy KnightMares were at ground level to their side.

"I can do it. Britannia can be defeated!" laughed Lelouch.

"Who am I fighting against? Don't tell me this person is better than Todo…" thought Clovis. "Lloyd! Can we win if we use your toy?"

"Your Highness, please call it the Lancelot" said the special envoy.

Meanwhile, Lloyd and his assistant Cecile were already preparing Suzuku. It's not like he had anything better to do if the request never came, after all his commanding officer shot him on purpose if he was telling the truth. Suzuku got high scores on the KnightMare simulators in training, but he never sat in a real one. Cecile reminded him that one thing the manual was missing was that they didn't have time to figure out how to fit in an ejection system.

The Yggdrasil drive was annoying picky about potential pilots. Only 1/3000 pilots would be "accepted." One Jeremiah Gottwald was picked after a long search since he should be accepted, but he was a no show. The Suzuku probably would be rejected since he was randomly chosen, but either Lloyd gets his data or he gets laughs. It's not like rejection causes damage after all. The last cables disconnected from the prototype KnightMare.

"Lancelot, ME boost" said Suzuku. The new white with some gold KnightMare launched successfully.

"Ah ha ha ha. Going full throttle so suddenly" said Lloyd as he and Cecile were blasted by the air current from the Lancelot moving so fast.

"Huh? What's that? For a Sutherland…" said one of Lelouch's units. An enemy had appeared and was moving rather erratically. Suddenly it punched the Sutherland destroying it as efficiently as a slash harken.

"P2 down"

"This is group B! Enemy sighted!" said a voice on the radio.

Lelouch was somewhat annoyed. Victory was so close. There were only 4 formations to deal with. One of them was Clovis and the others could be bypassed. He guessed that a real battlefield was different than the games. Not only did he start with less pieces, there was imperfect information, his units were inferior by skill, but the enemy could bring more pieces to the "board" which was not possible in chess. "Number of enemies?"

"One just one! Looks like a new machine"

Suzuku activated the right arm shielding. There were three high use energy storages for it and each took 10 seconds of lag before the shield could be activated from dry. Standby was not possible if the shield was activated. The main power source was incompatible with the shields except through a converter which would take hours to use to activate storage. Similar to how a 1990s camera's battery can't power the flash, but it can charge a capacitor which release all its energy rapidly to the flash.

"What? It can block bullets?" said Lelouch. His pawns were not on the map, but he knew he had 34 machines left at his disposal plus some ground terrorists. He had to not only memorize their locations, but update them mentally.

A Sutherland went down in a single slash harken blow. Lelouch was grumbling. These terrorists were useless. It's only one machine and they can't handle it properly. "N4, N5, P32 try to contain it where you are. When the high maneuverability squad gets there, surround I" said Lelouch.

"Understood!" The three Sutherlands shot at the Lancelot, forcing it to move in a straight line. Ground units fired 7 RPG rounds into the shield. The Sutherlands retreated behind a ruin. Terrorists used small arms fire and disabled the first shield. Suzuku was worried. After only engaging 4 KnightMares and some obsolete weapons, the shield was weak enough to fall to small arms. He activated the second shield storage. The Sutherlands got some shots into the left hip, leg, and chest, but failed to disable critical systems, merely killing a conduit from one of the shield energy storages.

One minute later when the RPGs fired, Suzuku dodged all the shots. This time he understood he could not No Sell them, as doing so would leave him vulnerable. If a competent Sutherland pilot makes RPG-7 too slow to hit, then in the faster Lancelot, they might as well have brought revolvers.

"Well, it looks like I owe Odysseus another one. After all, he gave me the special envoy. Oh well, it worked and my involvement in that thing is concealed" said Clovis.

The new squad arrived to deal with the Lancelot would have been able to shoot around the shield if their companions had survived to contain it. One of them fired slash harken. One grapple hit and damaged the Lancelot on the front, but the slash harken itself cracked, preventing future use even if he had enough time to retract and wait for the long attack cooldown.

Lelouch quickly moved though the files. The KnightMare he stole must have been from someone important or an immediate subordinate since there was a lot of information stored locally. He saw a dossier. Earl Harry Pastry, missing in action for three years. Relative recluse and lacks an active social life. Family hasn't seen him for years before his disappearance. Was declared missing in action three separate times by error, at one point serving a whole year before the records to be corrected. Obviously, some of the Britannians staffing Area 11 were not very competent. There was a shortage of people of the right birth to fill mid and high level bureaucracy positions in Area 11 due to not enough of them wanting to come her in the first place.

"I'm going to have to remove some of you for my own survival. You owe me that much. P2, P5, P6, prepare for ejection. I'm aiming for the legs." Lelouch thought false flag operations were distasteful, but there was more than victory at stake here, his own life was in danger. He shot at his pawns. Well, again they got him in this situation in the first place.

"I need to destroy the KnightMares. No matter what, I need to save Lelouch and that green haired girl" thought Suzuku. A Sutherland was firing on more Sutherlands. He used his slash harken to get up to the same level and prepared for a punch.

In hand to hand combat the Lancelot was quite clerkly larger than the Sutherland. "So this is him, the one who's been messing with my plan!" Suddenly both machines fell through three floors of the damaged building not designed to have a KnightMare on it while damaged. Lelouch's machine was prone on the ground. As he tried to get up, the Lancelot moved in for the kill.

Kallen punched the Lancelot. The machine was quickly overpowered forcing her to eject. Lelouch was making his getaway, well over 70 meters away and leaving at full speed. Suddenly the pursuit alarm went off. He started shooting at the Lancelot, disabling the shield for the third and final time. No more bullet stopping.

Suzuku knew he had made a few mistakes. He had plowed through 35 Sutherlands, but at least three times he took unnecessary damage In addition to taking hits while the right arm shield worked, Suzuku realized if he wasn't so cavalier about the rockets, he would have his third shielding. After all, a Sutherland pilot straight out of the simulator dodged those slow moving projectiles trivially. Still, his right slash harken was active, his top speed was unaffected, the right Lancelot fact sphere was intact functional despite the older Sutherland version put in on the other side as a cost saving method was damaged, and all of these functions outclassed the last enemy. He could do it.

Lelouch couldn't keep a steady aim on the moving target. He shot a few building to delay the monster with some debris, which Suzuku easily jumped over. Unknown to Lelouch, a woman and child fell from one of the buildings he shot. After some more fleeing, he noticed the pursuer putting the pair down. For whatever reason they were in danger (his, not that he saw it when he made the shot), the pilot saved them. Lelouch finished his escape.

"Huh? Saving people" said Lloyd looking at a monitor display.

"Yes, it seems so" said a temporary assistant given by Clovis to Lloyd.

"Hm, how weird" said Lloyd.

"Suzuku? You're tired aren't you? Should we end it now?" said Cecile.

Lloyd reminded the others about the limited operational time the machine had. The Sutherlands could operate for weeks, but the Lancelot would be less than an hour until he made some upgrades.

Author's Note: I got tired of the "No Sell" thing the Lancelot does in cannon. Here I demonstrate Lacelot's power while not getting overbaord. Also, this fanfic doesn't demonstrate anti-tank rockets (like the one uou see a backgrounterrorist carrying when Ogi gets his frist screentime) are good agaisnt a KnightMare. They will do nice damage, but they need to HIT which isn't going to be done unless the target is pinned to one spot or learned how to pilot one in a garage.


	3. The False Checkmate Threats in a Showe

The False Checkmate Threats in a Shower, and a Blue Butterfly

A lone soldier approached Prince Clovis's land cruiser/HQ/giant thing. He was dressed with a typical Britannian enlisted soldier for an urban firefight deployment. His helmet contained a sophisticated respirator and movement highlighting visor. A turquoise blue flak jacket designed to block shrapnel donned the body. The arm armour was designed to stop small arms fires as well as shrapnel since the arms are hit thrice as much as the larger torso in a city when assailants are in buildings. Unlike most enlisted men, he lacked a primary weapon: no rifle, no missile launcher, no flamethrower, and no shotgun. In the holster was a pistol, but the pistol appeared to be the type issued anti-tank and anti-KnightMare soldiers so that the user wouldn't risk self damage in close quarters rather than the sidearm variants given to officers. In any event, this soldier clearly lack any marks of a commissioned officer.

The guard gestured his gun at the incoming soldier. "Halt! Where is your ID? This is the vessel Prince Clovis is on." He said.

The soldier took off a helmet revealing black hair and his eyes. "An inspection at last? You've become quite spread out as I planned" Lelouch's left eye started glowing and a bird symbol appeared. "I am under the orders of Prince Schnitzel" his eye returned to normal. "I want you to let me pass through here."

"I see. All right" said the guard, standing attention.

Kallen was running around desperately. Their savior was gone and they didn't even have time to get the civilians away, only using a backup shelter. They needed to regroup there. If Britannia didn't find them, they might be able to sneak away. Given the indiscriminate purging of the ghetto, throwing away their weapons and grouping into the civilians will fail because the civilians are the target.

"This all happened because you decided to rebel against Britannia!" said one woman in the shelter.

"What? You damn cowards!"

"How many people do you think have died?"

"Shut up! We've also had a lot of our people killed or captured" said a brown haired rebel wearing a purple vest and wielding a submachine gun.

"Ogi-san, what about the person who was talking with us?" said Kallen.

"I don't know. He won't answer calls either, so he might have died" said the rebel leader. Suddenly, the old giant doors were blown open. Britannians swarmed in.

"See, I told you. We would have been better off using the poison gas than listening to some guy we don't even know!" said the armed rebel.

"But.." said Ogi.

"Nagata, you idiot!" said the brown haired and hot tempered rebel.

Britannians poured out APCs. Three self-propelled artillery gun vehicles pointed into the crowd, a rather unwise move given that firing artillery at this distance would put the vehicle itself in the blast zone. A Sutherland stood 10 meters behind, the pilot trying to look best as if he had more than three shots left. "How foolish for you Elevens to be hiding out here. Prepare to fire" said an artillery officer. The civilians huddle in fear. Kallen thought she would die.

Suddenly, loudspeakers started crackling. "To all troops. Cease fire immediately. As the Governor of Area 11, I the 3rd prince, Clovis la Britannia issue these orders. All troops cease fire. Cease all structural destruction activity as well. Help the wounded regardless of whether they are Britannians or Elevens! I am issuing these orders as Clovis la Britannia. Cease Fire Immediacy. I will not allow further conflict"

A series of lights, cameras, and microphones turned off. "Was that OK?" asked Clovis la Britannia.

"Yes, that was perfect" said the hostage taker. "I need a forward explanation to some of your command posts"

Clovis pointed to a console. "A simple way to do it is to scroll for names alphabetically and select who you want." The boy imputed through a list of commands, narrowing down to commissioned officers. Clovis saw three top level generals directly reporting to him were selected, though they weren't trusted enough to not leek anything to his father. An officer with three layers of superiors before reaching Clovis was selected. He was the closest officer not part of the personal guard. An infantry platoon commander was selected. Margrave Jerimiah Gottwald was selected. The boy scrolled rapidly and picked a random addition. He then opened a one way communication channel.

"The terrorists got some poison gas. The reason we were purging the ghetto is that the terrorists are hiding among the civilians. I gave the order because we had to stop them from getting away with the gas, even at the cost of some Elevens in the ghetto. However, we were a little late in perusing them. Had we arrived half an hour earlier, it should have been easy. But fifteen minutes after we started purging the ghetto, the poison gas was already gone. The terrorists put up some resistance despite that they got away with what they wanted. They probably did that to paly mind games with us and civilian lives don't matter to them anyways" said Clovis. He shut down the coms.

There was some confusion in the middle ranks of the officers. Thousands of relieved but dejected ex-Japanese left the various hiding places they were using, walking passed armed guards. Mingled with the civilians were the terrorists, down their one stolen KnightMare, failing to protect the civilians killed earlier, and they didn't even get their poison gas for the trouble. "What do you mean let the Elevens go?! We still need to retrieve the poison gas" said one major.

"But those are his Highness Clovis's orders" said another officer.

"I want to listen to the opinion of the other officers" said the first major.

"It seems the other generals are not around. I did hear we lost the poison gas midway through the operation" said General Cornelius, who was directly contacted by Clovis.

"Are you saying the only one in the Broadcast room is His Highness?" said one infantry platoon officer.

"No officers in any event. There are guards outside his vehicle. But officers like me were sent to get a better handle on the situation as the coms were full of meaningless chatter. We're quite spread out" replied the general.

Back in the broadcast room, Clovis was being a generally cooperative if a bit passive resisting hostage. "What's next? Shall I sing a song for you? Or be your opponent in chess?" said Clovis, getting bored.

"It brings back memories" said the boy holding a handgun. He removed his helment and let it roll on the floor. "You don't remember? We would often play chess together. I always won though"

"What?"

"Remember? At the Aries Imperial Villa" said Lelouch vi Britannia.

"Insolent. Who are you" said Clovis, getting annoyed.

"It's been awhile brother" said the other prince stepping closer. Clovis was shocked. It has been years but he recognized that face. "The firstborn of the deceased Queen Marianne. The 17th successor to the throne. At your service, Lelouch vi Britannia." Continued Lelouch, bowing and putting his arm around his shoulder respectfully.

"Lelouch? But you're…?" gasped Clovis.

"'Supposed to be dead'?" said Lelouch. "I have returned your highness in order to change everything"

Clovis felt joy and relief that almost stifled his fear. Lelouch was alive! Ironically, most of his private callousness to the Elevens he governed was due to them being responsible for the supposed death of Lelouch. He smiled. "I'm so happy Lelouch. I thought you died in the invasion of Japan. Well thank goodness you're alive. How about it?" said Clovis. Some of his fear returned when he remembered to focus on what he was seeing in the present, which was a boy pointing a gun to him. "Would you like to go to the Motherland with me?"

"So you can use me on the diplomatic scene again?" asked Lelouch. "You seem to have forgotten why we were used as tools." Clovis gasped as he remembered Marianne. "That's right, because mother was killed. Mother's rank was Knight of Honor and Queen Consort, although she was originally a commoner. She was an eyesore to the other imperial princesses. But going so far to stage a terrorist attack… to Kill mother!"

Clovis immediately realized Lelouch thought he was a conspirator. "It wasn't me! It really wasn't me" screamed Clovis.

"Then tell me what you know! No one can lie to me" said Lelouch. His eye glowed red and an image of a bird appeared in his eye. "Answer my questions" he said. "Who killed her?"

Clovis immediately relaxed. "I don't know. The 2nd prince Schnitzel and the 2nd princess Cornelia. For that apparent terrorist attack, if anyone in the royal family knows, they would know."

"They were the masterminds?" said Lelouch. He was surprised at the thought Cornelia would do such a thing at her age, at the time, to nobility, even one born a commoner. Clovis sort of slumped, closed his mouth, and gave a blank look.

"I guess you don't know that much" said Lelouch, releasing his eye.

"It wasn't me! I didn't do it! I didn't make anyone do it either!" said Clovis. Holding his hands up"

"I know that" said Lelouch lowering his gun. An evil grin spread across his face. He approached Clovis "But…"

Clovis was horrified, not at the thought of dying, which was something he didn't want to do anytime soon, but that someone he grew up with like Lelouch would harm him. He was so happy Lelouch was alive a minute ago, but now Lelouch looked ready to kill. "Stop it… Even though we have different mothers, we were raised as bothers. I'm still your brother".

"The world won't be changed by petty words alone" said Lelouch, aiming at the head, and then the heart. Three shots were fired.

Lelouch was surprised by a voice.

"Hey, Lelouch! You were asleep just now weren't you? I saw you stop working!" said an orange haired girl, slapping him with a rolled up series of papers.

Lelouch's attention slowly materialized. It was Shirley "So? You don't need to hit me." He said. He was inside the Student Council office.

"That's your punishment for leaving me" said Rivalz, a blue haired boy.

"All right, all right, all right. Don't change the subject. If we don't hurry up and finish the inspection of the budget of the blubs, we won't be able to approve the budget" " said Milly a girl with blond hair flowing past her shoulders. She was the student council president.

"The horseback riding club is close to us. They might just start suddenly com charging in again" said Rivalz, smiling at the though.

"Rivalz, you're a member of the Student Council after all" said Milly, oblivious to the horse and rider behind her. A blue butterfly went over to the window. The horse rider went away. The butterfly seemed to look at Lelouch and then followed the rider.

"President, it would have been better if you remembered this one day earlier" said Shirly.

"The correct answer would be 'three days later." That way, it would be too late and we'd have to give up"

"That's a good idea right no" agreed Lelouch.

"GUTS!" said Miley.

"That 'guts' magic again?" said Rivalz.

"Yes! You feel the desire to work harder" said Miley, wagging a finger.

"Fake magic like that won't work" said Lelouch.

"President! I think it's affect me" said Shirley returning to paperwork.

"That's great. The athletic types are more honest" said Miley.

"I've been training for this" said Shirley flexing her right arm muscles and forming a fist.

"That's not what I meant. They're quite splendid." said Miley, lowering her gaze so she no longer looked into Shirley's face. "I checked them out recently in the bathroom of the female dormitory. You have good balance in top and bottom" Rivalz made a grunt of approval and stared at Shirley's boobs.

"What are you saying? Pervert!" cried Shirley.

Later the paperwork was eventually finished. "Geez! I swear the president id a middle-aged man on the inside!" said Shirley.

"Milly has always been like that" said Nina, a girl with glasses.

As the trio of council members arrived, they saw some students huddled around with a laptop. "They said it was a poison gas attack. Isn't that scary? Shinjuku is only 30 minutes away" said the owner.

"Shinjuku?" said Shirley thinking that sounded familiar. Lelouch walked into the classroom.

"I called you yesterday because of this. I heard about it form a friend of mine while that was all going in real time" said Lelouch. The students continued watching the news report for half an hour. Bodies were being evacuated. A local policeman who was on the vase initially before his borough was superseded was interviewed, but the military stayed mum.

There was no mention of the Governor. "Strange. Why are they hiding that information?" thought Lelouch. He remembered killing his brother and started to feel bad. He went to the bathroom and threw up. Lelouch continued to ponder. "Are they hiding the death of Clovis to prevent confusion from spreading? But if they were to do that, when they announce that, all else being equal the damage will be greater. So not all else will be equal. Britannia must be cooking something up" thought Lelouch. "Hmph. My nerves are still too weak for this" he mumbled. "If I'm going to destroy Britannia, I need to do this many more times" thought Lelouch.

Far away, two people were discussing the attack on prince Clovis. The turquoise haired one of them was dressed in a blue outfit, with a golden outline, golden collar and a red decorative wing. "The culprit got through security thrice. It must be those outdated inspection methods" said Margrave Jerimiah Gottwald.

"Margrave Jerimiah, now that Prince Clovis can no longer rule Area 11, we of the Purist Faction…" said his bluish-teal ponytailed companion, only stopping when a gloved hand was put to her face.

"I'll give out the orders. Wait until everything is sorted internally" said Jerimiah. He and Villetta would not let this opportunity escape. Although it was rather tasteless to profit after the shooting of a prince, they needed to act quickly. They were not sure if Princess Cornelia or Prince Henry would do unilateral political favors for them if they were assigned to Area 11. Cornelia would furthermore not be manipulated with kind words and a luxurious lifestyle. Prince Schnitzel has his own agenda, and whatever it was Villetta knew it wasn't their own. On top of that, there were other Britannian factions who had their own ideas about Area 11, one of them only wanting to hold it just for strip mining and not caring about the stability of their occupation. Since those princes and princesses were the 1st, 3rd, and 4th most likely candidates to replace Clovis if the homeland didn't allow a military governor for long periods of time, they needed to consolidate positions and put their friends in charge of key military and administrative positions in Area 11. So long as they do their jobs, their allies can't be dismissed or demoted once placed, only transferred.

It was in another class break. There was three regular classes plus PE for the day. Lelouch had to agree that most Britannians would enjoy the "Rich Idiot with no Day Job" lifestyle, even though he himself is board.

"Kallen! It's been awhile. Is your body OK?" said one girl.

"Sophie was worried" said another girl.

"Yes, I can't push myself too hard though" said the girl in the center sitting down. It seemed thee girls of the Ashford Academy made friends with the one sitting down. Lelouch recognized her as Kallen Stadtfeld. The pink haired girl was a rich only child.

Suddenly, Lelouch recognized something else in his classmate. He remembered the terrorist who went past him in the truck to operate the KnightMare. Kallen was a terrorist. Lelouch wanted to monitor her. He opened a notebook and started observing mostly inconspicuously. Inconspicuously to anyone who didn't know him of course.

"Lelouch, what are you looking at? Perhaps you have a crush on her?" inquired Rivalz. He wasn't entirely correct, but he did notice Kallen had his attention.

"I just think it's unusual to see her. She hasn't been at school since the opening ceremony has she?" said Lelouch.

"Actually, she has on seven occasions. One time a whole 19 school days in a row. Kallen Stadtfeld. It seems her body is kind of weak. She only showed up occasionally last year too. But her grades are top notch. She's the daughter of the Stadtfeld family, so she has money. Plus she has a quite personality. You've got refined taste" said Rivalz.

"That's not it" said Lelouch.

"Denial, denial" teased Rivalz.

Lelouch continued his surveillance of Kallen. He only did so a third of the available time and made it appear he was more interested in Cornelia, one of the girls in her social circle. Later a bee circled lazily around the group causing panic. The girls dispensed. The bee followed Kallen.

Kallen looked somewhat intimidated and quiet as she ran away and later was examining the bee. Lelouch was wondering if he had the wrong pink haired girl. Suddenly, she got irritated and killed the bee in a swipe. "Geez, this pisses me off! I shouldn't have chosen such a weak personality to fake" said Kallen. Lelouch closed the distance. Kallen stuffed a sandwich into her mouth. "Oh no, I was seen" she mumbled through the sandwich. Lelouch's doubts quickly vanished. He needed to stop second guessing himself. "I-is there something you want from me?" asked Kallen as she tried to wipe all emotion from her face.

Lelouch looked into the girl with his left eye. The power activated and an image of a bird appeared and made a flap before relaxing. "Answer my question" he said.

"Yes" said Kallen, standing attention.

"You were piloting a Glasgow in Shinjuku yesterday weren't you?" asked Lelouch.

"Yes" replied Kallen.

"Why are you a terrorist?" said Lelouch.

"Because I'm Japanese, even though half my blood is Britannian" said Kallen. Lelouch was shocked. For most humans hair color was limited to red, brown, black, and blond. For Japanese red was rare. Europeans and Britannians also have blue, turquoise, and pink as common colors, plus a few uncommon ones. But the girl was a half. Lelouch continued to inquire her motivations.

Eventually Lelouch had finished. As if physic, Kallen suddenly returned to normal once he was satisfied with his questions. "Um, was there something you wanted to ask from me?" she asked. It seems her cover personality tone had returned to her voice. It didn't sound as authoritative as she was when she asked "is there something you want from me?"

"No, I'm done" said Lelouch. He started to walk away but quickly turned back to face Kallen. His left eye glowed "Say nothing about Shinjuku."

"What do you mean by 'about Shinjuku'? What do you mean by that?" said Kallen, puzzled.

"Go back to the classroom" ordered Lelouch.

"I will after you answer my question" said Kallen. Lelouch deactivated his eye.

"It doesn't work? What is this supposed to mean" thought Lelouch. Lelouch took a step back awkwardly. His face had the expression on might have after trying forgetting someone's name after spending a whole week together.

"Lulu! Kallen!" called a voice from above. "We're in science lab next. Hurry up!" said Shirley.

Suddenly Lelouch realized he was so focused on Kallen while making it look like his attention as elsewhere he forgot his responsibilities as a student. "Oh no! I need to get the equipment for the experiment" said Lelouch.

Later that night, a girl in a wheelchair and a maid were doing origami. Neither of them had eaten yet. "I'll wait. He said that he wanted to eat dinner with me" said Nunnally, Lelouch's crippled sister. She had sandy born hair and her legs were useless, needing a wheelchair. She was blind, although if one looked at her one might assume that it was simply her eye muscles were paralyzed and she couldn't open her eyes.

The maid finished her paper crane. "Here. It's done" she said.

Nunnally reached out and carefully felt it out without crushing it. Over the years she got good with her hands. "A bird?" she inquired.

"Yes. It's a crane" said Sayako.

"Amazing. Japanese people are talented aren't they?" said Nunnally. Soon she sensed a new presence and turned her head toward the door.

In came Lelouch. "Sorry. I'm late. I'm back, Nunnally, Sayako" said Lelouch.

Later Nunnally explained her day. "Sayako was explaining to me Origami. If you fold a piece of paper numerous times you can turn it into things like birds and ships" said Nunnally. She started to add some soup, but haste and blindness make a bad combination. She spilled some.

"You don't need to talk so quickly. I won't be going anywhere" said Lelouch, wiping the soup from his little sister's face.

"Elder brother, last night you were scary" said Nunnally.

"Really? Sorry. I had a lot of things on my mind" said Lelouch, thinking about Clovis.

"Hey. They say if you fold a thousand of these paper cranes, your wish will be granted" said Nunnally, holding out the first one she made. "If there is anything you wish for…"

"No I'm…" said Lelouch, still thinking about Clovis. "How about you? Is there something you want" said Lelouch.

"I wish for a kinder world" wished Nunnally.

"I'm sure by the time you cans e the world will be like that. I promise you it will be" said Lelouch. Lelouch considered their position. The Ashfords had basically let them live in for three years for free before Lelouch could pay for his living expenses. And they had the right to expel Lelouch and Nunnally at will, tuition paid or not. They were on the siblings' side though. Through the effort of the Ashford family, they had been protected and concealed. But he wondered how long that can happen. If their identities as out of favor princes were revealed, they would either be used as diplomatic pawns or fall to a conspiracy. "I must create a world where at least Nunnally can live happily" he thought.

Nunnally put their hands together with their pinkies locked. "I learned this recently. It's how Japanese people make promises" said Nunnally. She started moving their hands up and down. "'If I lie, I will swallow a thousand needles. Cut your finger'" said Nunnally, separating their hands at the last line.

"That's scary. I would have to swallow a thousand needles" said Lelouch. Whoever thought of that certainly was a fan of black comedy.

"Yup, so you shouldn't lie" said Nunnally, still holding out her pinky to the air.

"Don't worry, I won't lie" said Lelouch. "At least not to you" he continued in his mind. For his plan to work, his life would be made of lies/.

Simultaneously, a meeting was held in a bunker at the Tokyo Concession. A monocoled general was giving a briefing to a group of military officers and scientists. "As you know, the plans have all failed. We will abandon the laboratory because of that. We have prepared a place in Narita. Everything will be transferred there. A seventh of you will go there too and the rest of you will be put on paid leave for three weeks to three years. If other departments don't pick you up, the private sector will need talent. Even though no records were made, the fact that the other officers and I have left His Highness Clovis remains. I will most likely be send to the homeland as responsibility for this. You must try to salvage what we can now that the girl is gone. Also if the fact that I was conduct this experiment in secret becomes known to the Emperor…" said General Bartley.

"Understood. We'll prepare as quickly as possible" said an officer. The technocrat faction made a huge blunder with these secret experiments. It was known this girl had the interest of the Emperor for three years over a decade ago, although as a captive, advisor, or consort was unknown. It was not even known if they met. Not only would the Emperor not approve, it was this experiment which started the Battle of Shinjuku Ghetto… and mid ranking member of their faction who was high ranked in the military (a general) and permission to speak with Clovis on a regular basis left Clovis alone.

The next day, Lelouch needed to find out what was going on with the strange power. It was his only weapon, and it seemed to not work. Previously, he found out the limit of needing eye contact, being seen on the screen was inadequate.

"Lelouch, it's almost time for class" said a teacher.

"Oh, right" said Lelouch. He decided to give it another try. His left eye glowed and the bird image appeared. "Teacher, please tell me what the questions on the next argumentative exam will be" requested Lelouch politely.

"The humiliation of Edinberg and the battle on the new continent" said the teacher. Lelouch released the power. It was obviously still working.

Lelouch watched the teacher return to normal. "Teacher, please tell me what the questions on the next argumentative exam will be" said Lelouch, activating the power again.

"Quit joking and study seriously! You can do it if you try" said the teacher.

"OK" said Lelouch, in the tone one might say if rolling eyes after an annoying order, although his eyes were still. "I see, so it only takes effect onceon the same person" thought Lelouch.

Later Kallen was talking to her terrorist contact. "So, how does it feel to be back to school after such a long time?" said Ogi.

"Boring. Yesterday was a class on history. Hey wouldn't it be better if I went down there?" said Kallen.

"The military is keeping a close watch right now. Stay there until things cool down" said the terrorist leader.

"But that voice…" said Kallen.

"We can't search for someone with a voice as a lead. Besides, Naoto would be happier if you remain a student Kallen. Forget about Shinjuku for a while. I'll contact you again" said Ogi. He looked around the dump of a base they had. There was a flag of Japan and a picture of Kallen's family from years ago.

Kallen felt somewhat defeated at the thought of the lost opportunity they had and the order to lie low. But then again, he had a point that things were moving behind the scenes. She had the luxury of hiding in a safe place while the ghettos were vulnerable to normal crime.

Later that day Kallen studied her classmate carefully, almost staring at him at times. The voice was similar, but a memory a voice isn't reliable. Lelouch focused on class and ignored the unwanted attention, easier now that he wasn't actively spying.

"The only piece of information I leaked out was Shinjuku, but I must settle this quickly" thought Lelouch.

"Hey Lulu, how about" said Shirley.

"Sorry Shirley, maybe another time" interrupted Lelouch. He approached the pack of girls, who were chatting away.

"Oh really?"

"Kallen, you live at home right?"

"Do you have stuff like a curfew?"

Lelouch entered the perimeter Kallen's friends formed around her. This was a calculated risk. If Kallen was completely ignorant or merely suspicious, he was now directly calling attention to himself. On the other hand, Miley wanted to add a new member to the student council, so that was a (weak) excuse if he needed to backtrack. "Can you come with me for a moment? There's something I want to talk to you about" said Lelouch.

The girls were surprised. In fact, Lelouch got some level of attention from other idle members of the class too. "Sure, I thought you would ask me that" said Kallen. She knew his attention was on her.

"Huh?' said Shirley. The other girls squealed.

Kilometers away, a convoy was headed to a military base. General Bartley held his head in shame. Now that the laboratory was secure, he was going to have to pay for his incompetence. Or perhaps it was the incompetence of his subordinates since he's not on the security detail. "I'm sorry Your Highness" he said, looking at what appeared to be a coffin. A Britannian decal was draped over it. Inside Clvois's body was connected to several tubes.

Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald and his followers were in Sutherland KnightMares. He squad outnumbered three to one quickly dispatched the regular army guarding the convoy. They were allowed to eject peacefully since they were only doing their job of course.

"Do you understand our determination? Are you still spouting such futile excuses?" demanded Jeremiah. His Sutherland opened up the half-track containing Bartley and Clovis. Jeremiah opened up his KnightMare and poked out, revealing the pilot's cockpit and himself.

"Ask the others who were there! If you need testimonies…" said the bald general.

"Caring only for yourself? How disgusting! I will not allow you to stay by His Highness any longer!" said Jeremiah.

"I didn't know there was a place like this on campus" said Kallen. She was in a grand room in a dormitory complex the size of most non-boarding schools. There was glass and marble everywhere. A large balcony let one see to the ball-room style floor.

"It's a clubhouse made specifically for the student council to use. It was made with enough space so balls and other events could be held here" said Lelouch. The two teenagers stood in front of each other.

"There will be no interruptions here" said Kallen.

"That's right" said Lelouch, knowing there was one last interruption coming. Shirley was present, the president was coming in and Miley had one thing to say to him.

"I found it! This is what you were looking for, right?" said Shirley, holding a small device.

"Yes that's it. That's the experimental data" said Nina.

"Geez, by back hurts" said Rivalz. Ok, it seemed most of the student council was present. Lelouch knew Shirley would help Nina after she lost her data, but he didn't think they would all come.

Miley opened up a door. She was no longer wearing the Ashford Academy uniform but looked like a short skirted waitress at a fancy restaurant. "Did you find it? I'm done with all this, so let's begin" said Miley. She was wheeling in a cart of luxurious food.

"Woah, amazing" said Rivalz.

"As expect of Miley" said Shirley.

"Free to praise me as much as you want" said Miley. The appetite of the student council watered as she set the dishes.

"Um, what is this for?" asked Lelouch. He knew Miley wanted her here, but for what?

"Didn't you bring her because you knew? Kallen, we're adding you to the student council. My grandfather requested it" said Miley.

"The chairman?" asked Lelouch. The Chairman was the only reason he was alive right now.

"Yup. He said since Kallen's body is weak, normal club activities would be difficult. Oh! I am Miley, student council president. Nice to meet you" she said.

"Oh, nice to meet you" said Kallen.

The others came down the staircase and introduced themselves. "I'm Rivalz, the secretary. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me!" said Rivalz.

"I am Shirley. I'm also part of the swim team. Nice to meet you" said Shirley.

"I'm Nina. I hope if I do something big in the future my life's achievement won't kill 33 million people" said Nina.

"Oh yes, nice to meet you" said Kallen.

"Um, Shirley? Could you put this on the table?" said a wheel chaired girl. She was bringing a cake.

"Thank you Nunna" said Shirley.

"Nunnally? You came too?" asked Lelouch.

Kallen was surprised. The uniform on Nunnally failed to match the Ashford Academy uniform. In fact, it seemed that didn't belong to any school. "She's Lelouch's little sister. She's home schooled" said Miley.

"I'm still in middle school or would be if I attended school and I'm not really aprt of the student council" said Nunnally.

"It's ok. You'll defiantly be a member eventually" said Rivalz.

"Kallen, nice to meet you" said Nunnally.

"Nice to meet you" said Kallen.

"OK! How about I start off with a toast?" said Rivalz. He brought out some champagne. Shirley protested and a struggle over the bottle began.

"That's for you Nunnally" said Miley, handing over a glass of orange juice.

"Lelouch, pass!" said Rivalz. He threw the bottle which was barely caught.

"Lulu, I won't let you have it that easily" said Shirley. She rushed over and quickly pinned him to the group. There was a struggle and Lelouch protested. Suddenly, the cork came loose.

The wine poured out of the bottle. Unfortunately, it went straight into Kallen's hair. Kallen let out a tiny grunt. "What's wrong?" asked Nunnally. The student council ate no more than a seventh of their available food and Kallen left to shower. Lelouch was not sure why changing cloths isn't sufficient since wine smells nice in hair even if it is a horrible waste of wine, but that was her choice. In any event, now that he had her attention and there was an opportunity to speak alone, it was time to put his plan into action. Lelouch went over to grab Kallen some clothing. It was his casual wear, for outside the Academy. The others went over to wash Kallen's uniform.

Kallen was annoyed. "That is why Britannia is so… geez" said Kallen. She heard a knock on the door. She had left it unlocked so someone can leave her a change of clothes.

"It's Lelouch. I brought you some spare cloths" said Lelouch.

"Come on in. I have the curtains drawn" said Kallen.

Lelouch walked in and turned his eyes to the side. "Sorry about that. They're a lively bunch" said Lelouch.

"It's OK. It's not so bad having some mindless entertainment like that from time to time" said Kallen.

"The spare cloths are mine. Do you mind" said Lelouch.

"I care about that. You must be pretty fast. You went all the way to the male dormitory didn't you" said Kallen as she rubber her shoulder.

"I live here. It's difficult to have my sister live here in the dormitory. We got special permission from he chairman to live here" said Lelouch.

"I see" said Kallen.

"I'll be going" said Lelouch, making sure to step loudly.

"Wait!" said Kallen. Lelouch stopped moving. "Can yo get that pouch for me?" requested Kallen.

"Sure" said Lelouch. He picked up the pouch and walked over to the shower. Kallen suddenly grabbed his wrist. "You're more energetic than I thought" said Lelouch. It has been less than seven days. Either she is too hot blooded to live a double life without messing up eventually or her terrorist leader is an utter moron. If the only information he gave out was "Sinjuku" and her superior said something like "find anyone who could possibly be the voice with our limited information even at the cost of potentially blowing your cover" for example.

"Were you in Shinjuku that day?" inquired Kallen.

"What are you talking about?" said Lelouch.

"Don't play dumb. Why did you say Shinjuku?" said Kallen. She was clearly not fooled despite Lelouch successfully sounding confused.

"Is something wrong with Shinjuku" said Lelouch, now going for a curious tone.

"Don't answer a question with a question!" threatened Kallen. "The answer is yes or no" She brought up her pouch and activated a blade. "I don't want to hear anything other than that" said Kallen. Lelouch could see the outline of the knife and her arm thanks to the positioning of the light. He was amazed at the making of this concealed weapon. He thought that Kallen would try to overpower him bear handed or chokehold. This was unanticipated, but if his timing was perfect, it wouldn't matter too much, just raising the stakes if he was wrong. It was also a colossal tactical error committed by Kallen if she was not ordered to do so. She could not be certain Lelouch was in Shinjuku. If there was even a 1/3000 chance she was wrong, threatening Lelouch was simply not worth it. Based on her available information, there was no way even a 30% certainly could be achieved.

The phone rang. "If I don't answer it, someone will come" said Lelouch. He wondered why the landline was in the bathroom. Perhaps it was so that girls could order pizza while showering. At least the phone was waterproof, so if it served that purpose, it would work.

Lelouch picked it up on the third ring. "Yes? Ashford Academy Student Council. This is not our main number. No I'm… yes" said Lelouch into the phone. "It's for you. He said that if you answered, you would know" he said to Kallen. He handed the phone over. Lelouch had won.

Kallen picked up the phone with some curiosity. "Hello?" said Kallen. It was triggered.

"Sounds like you're OK, Q1" said the voice on the other side of the phone. Kallen gasped and moved the curtain a little to get a look at Lelouch. He was staring away, a phone idly on the long cord. Was she wrong? "Don't interrupt, I'm busy. Tomorrow, three days, and 37 days from now at 1600 hours, come to the viewing platform of the ex-Tokyo tower by yourself. Depending on the heat, I have something for you one of those times" continued the voice.

"Who are you? The one who gave the order for the ceasefire was…" said Kallen. Suddenly she heard a click. "Hey, don't hang up!" she said. In her frustration, she dragged the phone cord and moved the curtain.

"What do you mean by 'order the ceasefire'? Your friend seemed dangerous" asked Lelouch.

"That was… um" said Kallen nervously, eyes daring between the ground, the phone and Lelouch.

"Can I guess? You were talking about a game, right? Some kind of video game or something" said Lelouch.

"Yes. That's right. I started playing because I was stuck home so long" agreed Kallen. She released her grip on Lelouch. His body no longer forced to a particular orientation, the most natural position for his head was whatever direction his body was instead of facing Kallen.

"That's why I warned you that you shouldn't say anything about Shinjuku. There are people out there who try to show you pictures and videos" said Lelouch. He looked down to his wrist and rubbed it gently. He glanced at Kallen and she was looking at his arm. Does the girl have no modesty? Surely she had realized that when she was holding him, the default position of his head would face into the curtain she opened up. And even with his arm released, any boy was free to look in any direction. Lelouch turned away and looked at the door. "By the way I can see" said Lelouch.

"Huh?" said Kallen. She looked at Lelouch, and then looked down. "Ehhh!" she screamed. Kallen closed the curtains and wrapped her arms around each other and something.

"Um, I won't tell anyone. See you later" said Lelouch. He left the bathroom with a small smile. You had to enjoy the small things. This was especially important since he was going to be very busy in the future. Three days in fact.

In another room, Sayako turned off an audio recorder. The orange glow in the maid's eyes vanished. "Huh?" said Sayako.

Later Lelouch was brining Kallen up to speed on what went on weekly at the student council. "Even though we're the student council, there's not a lot of work to do" said Lelouch.

"Events? You mean like the cultural festival?" said Kallen.

"Yes, but that's far away. We will be doing things like organizing 'Gender role reversal festival,' 'Absolute Silence Party,' and 'Wear Your Swimsuit to Class Day" said Lelouch.

"What?" said Kallen with a dopey look on her face.

"It's the president's hobby. You'll be forced to tag along eventually so be prepared" said Lelouch.

Three hours before and kilometers away Margrave Jerimiah Gottwald was finishing a preliminary investigation of Clovis's. He was furious that General Bartley didn't even try to investigate hard. The military investigators mostly just collected information without any degree of processing the information.

His Highness' personal unit consisted of over 3000 infantry, 30 Sutherlands, 15 artillery pieces, and 100 anti-aircraft weapons. Only a few dozen of the infantry were present that day, most of them were deployed to the north for… whatever General Bartley did as he was in charge of it at that time. Now those, except a few officers who transferred to research in Narita before he took over, are a normal mixed unit that reported to Countess Lieutenant Mary, one of his followers who needs a triple promotion so her rank matches her new position. Under their disposal at that time were several Honorary Britannian infantry units with new recruits. They were not trusted with weapons without doing either a heroic act or surviving three combat deployments. One of them Private Kururugi Suzuku had found the terrorist and their poison gas and a student hostage. Private Kururugi Suzuku was shot for insubordination when he suggested the student was not a terrorist. A watch saved him and he was given medical treatment until he was deployed by the special envoy for some research. The envoy did not give the Purist Faction any information about what they were testing, or any relevant equipment. Therefore the only things keeping track of his time were the time stamps of the medical staff on the clipboards.

His Highness' personal unit deployed in Sinjuku had a death window of half an hour. Villetta Nu claimed to have the exact time. Unfortunately the video from her KnightMare is unavailable. Her memories would give a 3 minute window, but even Jeremiah is not sure of her testimony. So half an hour it is. It is possible that the Honorary Britannian recovered from his wounds, since his skin wasn't punctured, and killed Clovis's personal unit. The special envoy recorded data for whatever happened in the battle, but even if he used executive authority to demand them, the video itself was deleted by Lloyd in what he admits was a mistake. Since they won't even mention what weapon it was, Jeremiah assumed it was deadly. Furthermore, he lacks an alibi aside from the Lloyd, Cecile, and the guy temporarily assigned to the special envoy. Jeremiah believes they were right about his alibi, but mistaken about the time. None of them saw a watch, clock, or anything to indicated time from the time they claimed Suzuku was present with them to three hours after the shooting of Clovis. So he had no alibi.

Investigation of the murder weapon yielded a partial print. For every random 9000 individuals with fingerprints, only 3 would match this partial print. Private Kururugi Suzuku had a match on the computer. The computer only can give possible matches, but while false negatives are unheard of with the new algorithm, false positive matches have been known. Jeremiah sent the prints and 10,000 dummy prints of people with known alibis to the fingerprint experts of the Tokyo Police, the local military unit, and a private lab that favors the Purist faction. Jeremiah Gottwald had a feeling that without his prompting, they would find one Honorary Britannian matched the print.

There was the culprit's gun itself. There was a serial registration number and a 1 meter RFID chip that gave out its identification. This was one of the guns used in shooting practice by Honorary Britannians. Since they aren't fully trusted yet, careful monitoring is done to make sure each is returned after a practice session. Over the past 3 years, over 3000 incidents of stolen practice weaponry was reported, in contrast to 12 the year before that. Looking at normal crimes such as burglaries, muggings, homicides, and driving without licenses, stolen practice firearms per practice session (only one incident out of tens of thousands of practice sessions) went up along with normal crimes. The increased recruitment of Honorary Britannians meant more practicing, so the spike in stolen weapons isn't too suspicious of itself. The stolen guns often ended up on the private market, not much of it reaching the resistance. And in the grand scheme of things, handguns are one of the things the JLF can make. Making ammunition is expensive for them since they have to do it in secret, but possible. Weapons is more difficult, but not for handguns.

Jeremiah Gottwald made a phone call to the Sendai base. There was an incident where 30 handguns, 90,000 clips for them, and 5 anti-armor rockets were stolen. The JLF overpowered three Honorary Britannians whose bodies were found the next day. The guards failed to call for backup and tier keys were sued to open the storage. One of those weapons had the same ID number as the one used to shot Clovis. It was the same gun no doubt. And Jeremiah's suspect was training in Sendai at that time. What if the guards were overpowered thanks to insider information? For sure, a mere enlisted man would not formally know the guard detail information let alone a trainee, but guards can have loose lips since the training and storages were not a secret.

There were footprints found near the vehicle Prince Clovis used. Inspection of the rubber showed it was not issued to the guards around Clovis. Each company made rubber a bit differently, and it gave a different result on the test. Honorary Britannians deployed that day and the 3rd Boston regiment had their boots from the same company that matched the print. The guard units had their boots issued at different times form three different companies. Of course, this did not preclude different people switching boots. Most of them looked the same and Jeremiah knew he would trade his for more comfortable fitting ones if he accidentally wrote the wrong size on the uniform requisition form. Also, the company that made the boots would have sold other boots too, and since boots aren't weapons they could have very well made one exactly the same for civilian use.

Jeremiah made seven calls. This private was in the army for three years. Where did he come from before then? The surname sounded familiar. Furthermore, he still used his surname first like an Eleven.

After getting his answer, Jeremiah Gottwald found his answer. Aside from "My superior officer shot me!" Private Kururugi Suzuku had a motive. Combined with the suspicious death His Highness's personal unit during or possibly after his discharge from medical treatment, the print on the gun, the fact that the suspect used this very gun in practice months ago and no alibi seems to make this a done deal. The first three are suspicious lines of evidence pointing to the private. The last one screams "if you have even one line of evidence, then he's the one who did it!"

This was politically continent. If an Honorary Britannian was convicted not only of murder but regicide, then he could limit the flow of Honorary Britannian applicants to 3,000 a year. Since only Britannian and Honorary Britannians can have government posts, social benefits, public Higher Education, and more, this would finally give the Purist Faction what they wanted. The firstborn child of a Britannian and Honorary Britannian is considered a Britannian if they speak English and pay a small fee. If someone is an Honorary Britannian and an only child at time of death of his father and has one Britannian and one Honorary as parents, he is considered a Britannian if he pays a fee. But Jeremiah is worried about severe dilution. Firstborns and only children are obviously short in supply. If an Honorary Britannian has 1 pure Britannian great-grandparent, at least 6 Honorary Britannian or Britannian great-grandparents, and both his parents are either Britannian or Honorary Britannians, then he is legally born a full blooded Britannian regardless. This applies to his siblings too. All of these mixed breeds would be considered part of normal society!

Normally in a military tribunal, the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. Honorary Britannians have almost all the rights of pure blooded ones, but there are a few where the rights were implied instead of spelled out. Instead of entitling them to all rights, they were given a list of rights followed by "and anything sensible that would still allow strength of nobility." Since Honorary Britannians were common Britannians, at least one judge on Cuba declared that "anything sensible" was all rights. This was one example. Honorary Britannians were always judged as Britannians in Area 11 civilian courts and military tribunals ever. But these courts didn't rule that _had_ to be the case. If judged as an Eleven, the burden of proof lies on… whoever the judge feels like humoring that day. No seriously, sometimes Elevens get a normal trial because they looked better than the prosecutor. In the rare cases of a jury trial, the judge handpicks which facts from either (or facts from both) side the jury is supposed to believe until the opposing side refutes it.

Jeremiah decided he would charge Suzuku with shooting Clovis if the print matched. The military tribunal will consist of seven instead of the usual three judges. He would instruct them to try him as an Eleven, a first for a multiple judge situation. There would be one vacancy, and Jeremiah will fill the seventh with his handpicked judge. The fact that the print was a partial print instead of a full one will be omitted from the trial, but no other suppression of evidence will be needed. Jeremiah was so convinced he was right that he didn't think of it as fixing the case so much as hurrying up the proceedings.

Around the time Lelouch was being threatened by Kallen, who was in the shower, Jeremiah had received the information on the prints. He didn't tell them what the crime was, so given that they responded so fast all of them had nothing better to do. He had prepared a press conference and a speech was ready.

Lelouch walked into the student council special room. A TV was set up. News was on. It was labeled "Press Conference With Margrave Jeremiah form Sate Broadcast Room." "Prince Clovis was a victim and no longer capable of governing. He will become a martyr in the battle against the Elevens while perusing peace and justice! We must carry out his ideals in this sad time" said Jeremiah.

The news station was no longer on the press conference. Three channels ere dedicated to His Excellency's press conference, but this one was just news. "We just received breaking news. The person through to be the primary suspect has been apprehended. According to the announcement it is an Honorary Britannian: The Private Kururugi Suzuku. The suspect is a former Eleven"

Lelouch watched in horror as Suzuku was dragged by a soldier in the middle of an escort. He didn't know whether to be happy or not. Suzuku was somehow alive. But why was he arrested in Lelouch's place? Lelouch knew he needed to save his friend no matter what happened.

Author's Note: Sorry I'm slow in updating. There are a few reasons I started from the begining. one is I wanted to start with small changes that escalates to a tipping point where Lelouch finally decides to take a gamble. I'm also trying to make Jerimiah a bit deeper, while keeping the awesome and loyalty. Another reason to start formt he begining is that I wanted someone who only looked at the wikipedia article and didn't watch any episodes to be able to follow this. In other words, it will not just be a fanfiction, but a story that is readable and complete. I am also having a bit of formatting issues. When I hit "enter" to start a new line in a word document to create spacing, the doc manager seems to lump several blank spaces into one. Another effect is that my note is in the body of the story, I added it to the word document directly. But on other fanfics like s/7522480/3/The-Last-Hurrah you'll notice that there is a clear line sepearting the story and the author's note, indicating he typed his note in some place other than the document that got uploaded into the story. Thing is, I can't figure out where the site allows me to add notes. If you want to let me know anything (like how to put the notes seperatly or something) please send me a PM. If you have any thoughts about the story itself, continue to set reviews. I should be able to get the next chapter in 3 weeks.


	4. Unexpected Survival of Two

Unexpected Survival of Two

Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald answered a few questions to the press.

"Will His Highness live?" said one reporter.

"I'll be honest, while our medical teams can heal even severe injuries such as a severed spinal cord, we didn't see his Highness Clovis until he had considerable blood loss and damage. The doctor said he has less than a 1/8 chance of survival. His Highness Odysseus eu Britannia already told me to prepare for a state funeral. If Clovis survives another 168 hours, it's very likely we will live, but he won't be in any shape to make speeches for a while if ever" said Lord Jeremiah

A woman who looked more like she belonged to Ashford Academy than a company stepped up with another microphone. "How goes the investigation?" said the woman.

"Despite destruction of evidence, it's quite clear only one person was directly responsible. We already apprehended the primary suspect. We will not comment if he has any affiliation with any organizations. While it's true only a preliminary investigation was done, there is enough evidence for an arrest. There are no other suspects and Private Kururugi lacks a valid alibi. The military is disclosing additional details about the investigation, but only to the Tokyo Police at the moment" said Lord Jeremiah.

"Is Tokyo safe? The Shinjuku incident involved poison gas according to the military before you took charge of Area 11. Do you retract that statement" said a third reporter.

"We are doing everything in our power to stabilize the situation. Three additional units have been recalled from other Areas to garrison Tokyo. I will not lie, the terrorists stole the poison gas. Fortunately, the capsule requires tremendous power to operate. Instead of passively releasing the gas with its high pressure, it needs to be actively released. The powered valve is a variant of the Krupp-Lancaster-Smith design. The power required is triple of what the largest commercial generator is capable of providing; it would need a dedicated power supply. Alternately, the capsule can be destroyed from the outside. Despite being pressurized, the capsule would need be hit at a right angle with a force enough to break a KnightMare with triple thickness armor. Since it is circular, a right angle blow from a simple omnidirectional explosive is unlikely. In addition, the terrorists are too weak to operate constantly. They need to shed their terrorist persona and appear as civilians on a regular basis. Due to the size of the capsule, it cannot be hidden among someone pretending to be a civilian. The military is not working alone. We are working with the Tokyo Police and unlike other data sources such as telephones, internet service providers must give us information at request without a warrant, so finding it should be a matter of time" said Lord Jeremiah.

General Bartley was horrible at PR. Why he let his subordinates tell the press that the poison gas was recaptured, Jeremiah will never know. Since the terrorists were routed, people would have assumed success if the military didn't say otherwise. Jeremiah was going to be running Area 11 for a long time, so he wasn't going to start off with lies, particularly in case if the poison gas isn't found and the terrorists use it a few months later. It was best to be honest but wait for questions instead of offering information that could cause a panic.

Jeremiah let Lord Kewell handle additional questions. He now had a joint meeting with the local police and military. "My lab gave a match with 3 of the dummy prints and Private Kururugi with the partial print we found on the gun. I want to hear it from the local police's fingerprint experts too. I may be bending a few rules for the trial, but I want it to be the right guy. Where is Julia?" said Jeremiah.

"My boss is out for medical reasons. You see, she has a seven centimeter lung aspergilloma so she is going to have that removed…" said a blond man.

"And you are delivering Julia's report in her place?" said Jeremiah, cutting off the young man. It was a busy day for him.

"Yes. Here are the 4 prints that match the one found on the gun" said the man. Jeremiah smiled when he found the same matches. If only Private Kururugi was found a match, this meant the fingerprint experts were in disagreement, throwing doubt into the investigation. Jeremiah looked at photographs blown up prints himself. The partial print looked exactly like Kururgi's print to him.

"Lord Jeremiah, I have some concerns. About one of out every 3000 randomly sampled people will have a match to this fingerprint. While full fingerprints are unique and we have never had a false positive or negative with a full print, partial prints result in multiple matches" said a regular police officer. His position was normally too low to be in the meeting, but he was an unlanded lord and the brother to an earl who did Clovis an unspecified favor some time ago. Therefore, some of the details were over his head and paygrade.

"Private Kururugi is not a randomly selected person. If we went through the military and arrested everyone with a match, we would catch many innocents. He has plenty of motive and his alibi does not appear to be valid" said Jeremiah.

"His Highness Clovis la Britannia was shot in his chest. The culprit missed the heart, but did create a 3 millimeter gash in the superior vena cava. The exit wound was also large. Another bullet smashed the hip, breaking the bone. A third one hit his left leg just above the knee and a major artery. This third one alone would normally cause him to bleed to death in a third of the time it took for us to give him medical attention, but the bullet was stuck. While this caused ischemia in the left leg and the bullet is giving him a festering infection, it turned the flood of bleeding into a trickle. Fortunately, there were medical unit nearby, one of which ironically treated the suspect some time before. Clovis lost consciousness for approximately 13 minutes before he was stabilized. Assuming Clovis to be a "typical" person, Jeremiah, if you didn't go back to HQ when the other Sutherland pilots broke up their formation, Clovis would be dead. Indeed, if his recovery is only partial, you might have done His Highness a great disservice" said a medical officer.

"Power was off for much of the critical minutes, including cameras. After somehow getting close, the culprit needed to overpower a trio of guards at a door in a three on one fight. I don't know why they didn't report it, but the guards we would want to talk to got into a car accident, so we don't know what happened. Presumably, shots were not fired since that would attract unwanted attention, so they were beaten in hand to hand combat. Physical evidence was difficult to gather due to the military getting their hands over everything and moving stuff around. Until you took over Lord Jeremiah, no one really cared about it. You can forgive them for their attention being on speculating Clovis's survival. The military investigators were unable to come up with anything, but we submitted the information to us in Tokyo Police. Nothing is conclusive, but there is a very high probability the criminal used the boots of a standard military uniform and that he was alone. There was no accomplice. It could be a lone wolf mission. If this was an assassination, whoever hired him refused to risk any of their own and no cooperation occurred on this day. I am assuming that whatever the military told us to look over was accurate of course" said one veteran investigator from the local police. He coughed. "Are you sure the terrorists can't use the poison gas anytime soon?"

"Don't worry. Here is the specs of the capsule we" said a military officer.

Jeremiah looked over at one of the copies. There were three separate release valve 120 degrees apart. They were wired in series and it was impossible to operate one without the other. Without power, the mechanism would behave similarly to a check valve. Given the fact that a pressure release would have been simpler, he as surprised at the complexity. "Thankfully, it is almost as if this was designed to consume as much power as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if one officer had a relative who sells the battery for the truck that carries it" Amusingly, he was unware the research group simply gave a design that was perfectly plausible with a gas capsule that justified the auxiliary power supply so that if the regular military retrieved it before Clovis's personal unit did, they wouldn't do anything stupid that might wake up the cargo.

"Should a civilian be here?" said a military officer, pointing to a brown haired man in a ponytail he didn't recognize.

"I'm Diethard. The Purists invited me to the private conversations. Don't worry, I don't have any recording equipment and I already agreed to run everything with Lord Jeremiah before I tell anyone" said Diethard.

"Yes I appreciate your help with PR. OK, I'm dismissing the local police, I heard the summary. Please keep them up to date since their people are better at interpreting data collection. It's a bit embarrassing our in house people are not up to the task, but at least most of this isn't sensitive. Also Diethard, there is something I need to do that you cannot be privy too even if a smart person like you suspect what I'm going to do" said Jeremiah.

Suzuku was pretty distraught. He didn't even do anything and now he was accused of attempted murder of Prince Clovis. The guards treated him relatively well for a suspect. Suzuku had a few bruises, but most of them were from being dragged or roughly handled rather than deliberately done to cause pain. When he was turned over to the higher ups, the Purists seemed to have it out for him. So far he had a reprise. Suzuku went to the bathroom and was locked into a room for 3 hours, with no guards or outside stimulation. The only movement besides himself was a musical metronome placed in, so he probably didn't realize three hours passed. The door opened. Three regular guards and a few Purist officers came in. Suzuku's hand restrains were removed and then retied to his chair. A man with turquoise hair came in. He was well decorated with a blue shirt that had gold lining. A red decorative wing was under his collar and a dark cloak was attached to the shirt with a golden rope. His hands were covered with white gloves.

"Private Suzuku, this is Lord Jeremiah Gottwald. He will be conducting your interrogation" said one officier.

Lord Jeremiah Gottwald held a gun in a forensic bag. "Do you recognize this gun? Kururugi Suzuku. This tool was used to shoot His Highness Clovis. I investigated your background too. You are the legitimate child of the last Japanese Prime Minister. There's plenty of motive for you" said Jeremiah.

"There's been some sort of mistake. I don't think I've seen this gun before. If I did, it was one of the training weapons that was modified since I last touched it" said Suzuku. An officer made a gesture to a guard. The guard kicked Suzuku to the ground.

"Your fingerprints were found on it" said Jeremiah. "Ok, it's only a partial print match since we couldn't get a full print, but aristocrat investigators can lie to commoners even pure blooded Britannians to further the investigation. Besides, the partial print is entirely consistent with Kururugi" he thought. "You are also suspected of killing His Highness's personal unit. I don't know how or when you got shot, but that day you were reported to be insubordinate minutes before we lost contact. Later, you were found and treated. Admit it. If you confess now, you will be judged as an Honorary Britannian instead of an Eleven" said Jeremiah.

"I didn't do it" protested Suzuku. He was roughhoused a bit

"Enough. We aren't going to torture a confession out of him. Let the judge decide his fate" said Jeremiah.

"Yes the suit and sound modulator is just as you ordered it. The mask appears identical to a series of 3000 masks sold as a toy three years ago, but I made the slide mechanism working exactly as you intended. It is also shrapnel resistant, although making it bullet proof in the time required without attracting attention was impossible. If you believe this is acceptable, all that's left is for me to erase the evidence and forget everything, right?" said a bald man who had craftsmen contacts. Lelouch gave approval. It was good that the power allowed multiple conditionals to be made into the same command.

Lelouch was glad that Suzuku was alive, but his relief had turned to horror when he found out Suzuku was condemned. He didn't know what to think of Clovis. On one hand, he already had regrets about his apparent death. So now a brother and his best friend whom he thought were dead were alive. To be honest, he might not have even shot Clovis if Suzuku wasn't killed by his soldiers. On the other hand, if Clovis woke up, he would have every reason to think he needed to hunt down and kill Lelouch for the sake of self-preservation.

The next day, Lloyd and Cecile were dealing with a problem. "Bah, the essential part is missing. It appears nothing can be done. If we can try to get other pilots, the Lancelot needs a certain wiring of the brain for optimal operation. Even if one of them has the same level of synchronization, I doubt he would be able to produce the same results that Suzuku did. His operation efficiency for his first activation was 94%. Even if you replace the part" said Lloyd.

"That's why in order to free Suzuku..." said Cecile.

"He's an Honorary Britannian, right? Ever since the General Bartley's dismissal, the military has been in controlled by the Purist Faction" said Lloyd.

Ashford Academy students have just finished listening a school assembly. All of them started to leave the assembly hall. There was a week off from most classes.

"What's the Purist Faction? I heard the Acting Governor is one of them" said Shirley.

"It's a group that believes only Britannians should be in the Britannian military" said Lelouch.

"Lelouch, Shirley… I have three tickets to that new movie you wanted to watch. Want to come?" said Rivalz.

"Rivalz, you didn't even know classes would be cancelled. Stop trying to skip" said Shirley.

"It's ok. We'll come" said Lelouch. If all went to plan, he would be free that day anyways.

"Given their views, they won't get a Britannian soldier to take the blame. Whoever killed Clovis somehow got a uniform, or at least the soldiers' boots. But if the suspect were an Eleven, the investigation will proceed the way Margrave Jeremiah wants"

"Then Suzuku…" said Cecile.

"I don't think he'll be found innocent. It was a tactical mistake on our part to admit we could not confirm the times rather than lying and claiming we had all the times accounted for" said Lloyd.

Kallen walked into the former Tokyo Tower. The structure was stabilized without being rebuilt. While the top three floors necessary for maintaining the old broadcasting equipment were destroyed, lower floors including an observation floor were spared. It was a monument to the Second Great Pacific War. Old artifacts, videos, and photographs from the war were present.

"Tokyo tower at 1600 hours… he picked this place on purpose" muttered Kallen.

Her partners were also present despite their mysterious backer not requesting them.

The brown haired terrorist leader stepped forward. "The one contacted us was Kururugi Suzuku wasn't it?" said a blue-teal colored subordinate. It was Sugiyama. His hair barely reached his chin.

"Don't make any hasty assumptions" said the terrorist leader Ogi.

"But he might have been caught after talking to Kallen" said Yoshida, another subordinate.

"If this is the case, this place might be dangerous. The local police might be looking for anything unusual. In the unlikely event a separate investigation team learned our faces…" said Sugiyama.

"To Miss Kallen Stadtfeld of the Ashford Academy, your lost item was delivered to the service counter. Please collect your lost item" said a woman over the intercom.

"That is an Ashford Academy Uniform right?" said a woman at the counter.

"Yes" said Kallen.

"And this is your item right?" said the woman holding out an electronic device.

"Eh, Yes, thank you" said Kallen.

"Clovis really did help. Not only was there was cease fire, but the medical aid to the civilians was invaluable" said Ogi.

Kallen looked at the device. It claimed there was an incoming call from someone named "Zero." This was some sort of communicated. "Yes. Hello?" said Kallen.

"I told you to come alone. In any event, recent developments quicken my schedule, so you bringing them is convenient. Bring them to the 5th Kanjo train line on the outbound" said Lelouch.

Meanwhile Lord Jeremiah was in one of Clovis's offices with some of his low ranked followers, Villetta, and TV producer Diethard Ried. "His Highness's memoral program was well made, although it might have been too emotional" said Jeremiah.

"Your excellency, the masses demand tears" said the ponytailed TV producer.

"A fitting response for a TV producer. Regardless, I acknowledge your skill. It was as if you knew about His Highness's death to get that much together when I gave you 80 hours since I told you before the public" said Jeremiah.

"Forgive me, but the memorial programs for all the important personnel were prepared three years ago" said Diethard.

"Is there one for me as well?" said Jeremiah.

"With this recent incident, Your Excellency may rise onto the list" said Diethard.

"So I wasn't high enough rank before. You're honest" said Jeremiah.

"Forgive me" said Diethard.

"Would you like to join the military? We're short on people who can manipulate information. Our people only have experience in covering up and lying, options I prefer as a last resort" said Jeremiah.

"I'm aware that someone like me I not suitable for such a task. These three years your Excellency might have extra work for me, but not on a permanent basis" said Diethard.

"So you like commercial broadcasting better? Oh well. I would ask you to do one more job. Tomorrow night, we will transport Kururugi Suzuku to the military court" said Jeremiah.

"Let me bring the Britannians who love their country to the route" said Diethard.

"I'm glad you are so understanding. Make sure his face is visible when we transport him" said Jeremiah.

"Lord Jeremiah, there are those among Elevens that hold Kururugi Suzuku as a hero. Be careful" said Villetta.

"I will escort him personally in the Sutherland" said Jeremiah.

Kallen are her allies arrived in the train and had a short conversation with this "Zero." After giving them motivation, he ordered them into the front car of the train. Astonished, they found the entire car empty except for one man in a cloak and mask.

"It's not a trap is it?" said Yoshida.

"Hey! What happened in Shinjuku? Was the ceasefire your doing?" said Kallen.

"Say something" said Yoshida. Just then the train entered a tunnel. The figure turned around.

"How was it? Did you like my tour of the settlement? I wanted to get you in the right mindset" said Lelouch.

"He sounds different than he did that day" said Sugiyama. Lelouch was relieved a simple unpowered device could make his voice different.

"There is a gap between us and the Britannians. That is why as a resistance…" said Ogi.

"You're wrong. So called resistance and freedom fighting is nothing more than mere terrorism. Against such a powerful foe, terrorism is nothing more than childish harassment. Don't be fooled. The enemy is not Britannians. The enemy is Britannia itself. If you're going to do it at all, then it's a full war. Ignore the civilians. Weigh out justice!" said Lelouch.

"Don't joke around. That's easier said than done. How can we believe the words of someone who won't even show his face!" said Kallen.

"That's right. Would you please show us your face?" said Yoshida.

"If you are giving me credit for the cease fire, you should already be in awe at me. However, if you insist, I will show you something. Not my face, but a taste of my power. If I make the impossible possible, you'll believe what I say won't you?" said Lelouch.

Meanwhile, at a secret base, the Japanese Liberation Front were trying to think about their move. "Kururugi took out the prince of Britannia? We must praise him as a hero!" said one Lieutenant.

"He's the orphan child of Prime Minister Kururgi?" said a NCO.

"He became an Honorary Britannian, the man who threw away Japan. Thankfully, outside of Tokyo none of the civilians know about him after that" said a third JLF man.

"The incident in Shinjuku was the work of Kozuki's squadron, right?" said General Katase Tatewaki.

"Yes. They are currently being led by a man named Ogi. So far, about a third of their recruits might have come to us if they didn't exist. Kozuki Naoto provided us sporadic information but he never got to merge into our chain of command before his death" said snother man.

"Has Kururugi's family said anything?" said Katase.

"They cut off relations with him since he joined the military"

"What do you think Todo?" said General Katase.

"We have no obligation to accompany him on his public execution" said Colonel Todo.

There was more optimistic news inside a brig. "Congratulations, neither of the two people you asked about were on the list of casualties" said Lloyd.

"Thank goodness" said Suzuku.

"But you are in an unfavorable position. Even when you go to trial, no one will be on your side" said Lloyd.

"But trials are where the truth is revealed" protested Suzuku.

"I think the 'truth' is something that's covered up most of the time'" said Lloyd.

"If that's how the world works, I'll be found guilty. I don't want to be attached to such a world" said Suzuku.

At sunset, Lelouch was getting his plan launched. Kallen, Ogi, and Sugiyama all stood before him. Pink hair, brown hair, and blue-teal hair all in descending level due to the uneven ground. "So it's just you guys I see" said Lelouch.

"Sorry. Can you give us a little more time? If I speak to them I'm sure…" said Ogi.

"No, two is enough, three is convenient" said Lelouch.

"Don't be an idiot! Do you know how many enemies there are?" said Kallen.

"With your cooperation, all the conditions are cleared. Make this tomorrow. It needs to look like this from the outside" said Lelouch handing a diagram of one of Clovis's vehicles.

The next evening, Suzuku was carried out of his prison towards a court inside an administrative building. Diethard was making his arrangements. "Harry, make sure your narration is clear. Camera five is too slow. Charles, is everyone in place? What? The studio? Let them wait. We're not delaying it. Everything is going to plan."

The convoy appeared in front the first camera. "Oh! We can see them now. It's the suspect Kururugi. Kururugi Suzuku will be here soon" said a reporter while live.

"See?" said Diethard, talking through his mic. He turned it off. "Hmph, reporting a fascade like this means I've stooped low. At least this will be worth ten years of payfor me and I'm helping Lord Jeremiah who respects me and understands the importance of cameras even if he doesn't know how to do this in house. That has to count for something" said the ponytailed producer.

The convoy considered of an open topped truck in the center. Suzuku's hands were tied behind his back. He was fully visible for the crowd to see and dispense their hate. Three soldiers in masks stood to his left brandishing their guns. Four KnightMares surrounded it. An APC followed behind the larger vehicles.

Lelouch put on the black gloves and mask of his Zero suit. "That's right. I don't need a path I can turn back from. There is a one out of eight chances that something I didn't predict will happen. If I have to improvise, there is a good chance this is the end. I hope nothing ever forces my hand again" thought Lelouch. He was risking everything to save his friend.

"Deputy, I mean Acting Governor General Jeremiah. A vehicle is approaching on 3rd street and headed this way. As ordered we didn't do any security checks, but…" said one man on the coms.

"Do you think it's something of terrorists?" said Jeremiah urgently.

"Well, it's his Highness's personal vehicle" said the officier.

"What an absurd person. I don't mind. Let it pass through. All vehicles halt!" said Jeremiah. He raised his right hand.

"There was no plan for them to stop here. Perhaps there was some sort of accident. A car is approaching. This is the personal vehicle used by Clovis" said the reporter. The crowd was getting restless.

Jeremiah smiled at the fool. "Get out, you who defile His Highness's vehicle" said Jeremiah.

The Britannian banner in front of Lelouch quickly burned up to the incendiary he placed there. "I am Zero" said Lelouch. He repeated it in Japanese. "Suzuku, I will repay my debt to you" thought Lelouch.

"That's enough, Zero. Your show time is over" said Jeremiah, right hand on hs handgun and left hand on his Sutherland controls. He fired a shot. Four KnightMares dropped from above and surrounded Lelouch's vehicle. "Now take off your mask" said Jeremiah. Lelouch snapped his fingers and the fake walls disguising the truck as Clovis's vehicle came off. Inside was a capsule that civilians had not seen, but the military has. "What?" said Jeremiah, horrified. Three of the KnightMare pilots that dropped around Lelouch had fainted inside their cockpits. Obviously not battle hardened soldiers…

"Lord Jeremiah, that's…" said Villetta alarmed.

"That's right Jeremiah. To you who haven't seen the inside of this, it's a capsule of posion gas" thought Lelouch.

"Poison gas pressurized to 2293679.855 millimeters of mercury. He took every Britannian civilian here hostage!" thought Jeremiah. He pointed his handgun at Zero.

"Roper, increase the volume and get close up!" said Diethard.

"But, this looks kind of dangerous" said the technician.

"Friggin amateurs" said Diethard. He picked up a camera three times the size of his head. "Set video feed 3 to this one"

"I offer an exchange. This thing for Kururugi Suzuku" said Lelouch.

"Ridiculous. This private is charged with attempted murder of His Highness Clovis. There is no way I'm handing him over" said Jeremiah.

"You're wrong Jeremiah. He isn't the culprit" said Lelouch. Diethard got close enough ad started focusing the camera. "It was not attempted murder but battery. The one who shot Clovis was me!" said Lelouch. He repeated this in Japanese. Almost everyone who was anyone was watching this event. This included Lloyd, Cecile, the Ashford Academy student council, and the JLF HQ staff.

Inside the truck cab, Kallen was at the wheel, facily dressed in white with a cap and a face concealing visor. "It's no use now. We're dead" said Kallen.

"For one Eleven, you can save the lives of many Britannians. I don't think that's a bad deal" said Lelouch.

"He plans on turning this into a show" muttered Diethard with glee.

"You should pay for masquerading in His Highness's vehicle!" said Jeremiah. The lone ready KnightMare around the truck readied its gun.

"Are you sure you want to do that Orange-kun?" said Lelouch. He repeated this in Japanese.

"Huh?" said Jeremiah.

"What does Orange mean?" said one guard.

Lelouch tapped his feet and Kallen advanced the vehicle. "It will be publically advanced if I die. It will also be known you don't keep your word. Since you didn't agree with my first deal, I'll increase my demands. If you leave 30,000 Pounds in front of the main police station next week, I'll refrain from giving this capsule to anyone who might use this in Area 11 as long as you are Margrave. Immediately, my offer now is to not say you broke your word and to go away with this device without using it in return…" said Lelouch. He activated his eye. "With all your might, let us pass. Do the same with him" said Lelouch.

"I understand. Hand him over" said Jeremiah. Everyone, Kallen included gasped.

"Lord Jeremiah, what did you just say" said Villetta, alarmed.

"Hand him over!" ordered Jeremiah.

Suzuku's bonds were released. Kallen pullet a switch and seven large gas containers left the truck. Suzuku walked forward. An old KnightMare Frame beside the truck stood up. Villetta entered her new Sutherland and prepared to fight.

"Zero, it's time" said Kallen. Lelouch pushed a button. The seven containers were revealed to be oversized smoke grenades.

"You damned Eleven" screamed Villetta. As she started to open fire, Jeremiah's Sutherland pushed her gun upward. "Lord Jeremiah, why?" said Villetta.

"I already told you not to interfere!" said Jeremiah.

Lelouch, Suzuku, and Kallen were pulled up by a series of hidden wires. The odd KnightMare fired modified slash harkens with a landing bed the trio fell into. Lord Kewell raised his weapon.

"I will not let this Zero massacre all these civilians. We made an agreement to assure their safety. Anymore actions against the deal will be considered treason from this pint on. With all your might, let them pass!" said Jeremiah.

Sugiyama came up in the Sutherland Lelouch stole from Villetta a week ago. He picked up the capsule and started to move away. It looked like an official vehicle and no one would question it until much later the military realized they still didn't have the poison gas.

After all the "fun" the senior elements of Ogi's terrorist cell gather in an abandoned building. "He might be able to pull of the war against Britannia we all thought was impossible" said Ogi.

"It seems like they treated you poorly. Private Kururugi, you seen how they operate. Become my ally" said Lelouch.

"Did you really shoot His Highness Clovis?" said Suzuku.

"Do you need a reason to kill enemies in a war? Although to be honest, personally I'm not disappointed in his survival. In any event, the results are favorable. Britannian is not a country worth serving" said Lelouch.

"I think it's worthless to achieve results with the wrong methods" said Suzuku walking away.

"Wait! Where are you going?" said Lelouch.

"My court-martial starts in an hour. If I don't go, more Elevens and possibly even Honorary Britannians will be accursed" said Suzuku.

"You're an idiot" said Lelouch, putting a hand to his mask and missing his forehead. Wearing a mask was going to take some time to get sued to.

"In the past, I had a friend who told me that a lot. 'You're an idiot' I suppose that's my weakness"

Lelouch realized he might have saved a friend, but Suzuku was not going to be an ally. The only allies he gained this night were terrorists with questionable methods. He needed to rebrand these so called "resistance" into vigilantes of justice.


	5. The Princess and the Witch

The Princess and the Witch

After the release of Suzuku, Lelouch talked to Ogi about the running of the terrorist cell he ran. Ogi inherited the terrorist cell from Naoto, a man who was in contact with the Japanese Liberation Front. They had supported over 30 operations of the JLF and used to get some money from them. Acquiring weapons through the black market was mostly their own work. They used to get some ammunition, but now they have to buy it themselves. Assuming they do their usual small time raids and occasionally get raided themselves, there is enough food and ammunition for 3 years in their storage, or ten years for small arms. Food should last awhile since they have their own jobs and civilian covers and don't have to hide around moving from place to place. Supplies should not run out as a healthy black market exists, although their three favorite suppliers were raided and now can only get ammo but no replacements for their RPG-7s for the moment.

The terrorists mainly did kidnapping and blowing stuff up. As it turns out, people in the ghetto become more angry at Britannians when stuff is blown up, rather than angry at the people blowing stuff up. They had not been in active contact with the JLF for a long time, only sending some intel about the ghetto occasionally. Once they were rewarded with a tip about poison gas. And Lelouch knew how that would end up.

Funding came from a few sources. Most of them simply chipped in whatever they could spare from their civilian lives. Kallen contributed some of her allowance, equal to 3000 "average" contributions, but this was still inadequate. The terrorists simply kidnapped Britannians at random intervals and held them for ransom.

Target practice was held weekly. They usually used cutouts, but sometimes they kidnapped Britannians and used them for target practice. A crude timer would unlock the targets ten meters away from the shooters who would try to kill them. Ogi didn't authorize these kidnappings, but he left the other terrorists decide how they got their targets as long as they didn't leave a trail for the police to follow. Since the kidnappings occurred on the street at the night, they usually didn't leave a sufficient trail. Three times some targets escaped and one of them resulted in some of the terrorists shooting each other. Lelouch did a facepalm hearing about this method of acquiring live targets.

The group's ace in the hole was an outdated Glasgow. It had fuel issues, consuming more of the energy filler in idle mode than a normal KnightMare. If this one and a full working one moved as fast as possible, this one would use triple the power. Since the waste happened regardless of whether it was in idle, moving, or combat, it encouraged aggressive behavior. Kallen had some practice when her cousin brought a Sutherland over for a week. Since this was a Tokyo based terrorist cell, they could not deploy it in the streets or parks unless during an operation. They did practice using it in the storage garage. Hundreds of the group had practiced with the basic controls. The KnightMare had only ten meters forward and three laterally of movement most of the time, although sometimes when storage boxes were moved, better movement was allowed. Lelouch immediately understood why these people performed worse than pilots who were told the basic controls (movement, GUI, arm controls…) and had "practiced" with computer games and not yet gone through KnightMare simulators. Lelouch did a facepalm as he remembered thinking about how the terrorists absolutely failed when they were the defenders of a frontal assault.

Three times the group has been raided which included a KnightMare. Once the Kallen was able to beat three Sutherlands, but she had the support of ground troops. The bullets were unlikely to do damage, except when a KnightMare carried a machine gun instead of the Sutherland's general purpose weapon. Small arms could easily destroy a machine gun, if the guy holding the rifle doesn't get killed first… which happens a lot. Another target was the exhaust ports of the KnightMare. Riddling bullets into it would cause a KnightMare to overheat in half an hour, but this was not a kill since it gave the pilot plenty of time to return to base. The RPG-7 shot shaped charges that could be theoretically effective against the KnightMare armor. In three places it could penetrate in a shot and in most of the places three hits on the same place will leave a gaping hole. Unfortunately, the KnightMare was very maneuverable. Lelouch knew in the Second Great pacific War, Japan didn't lose because the tanks had inferior armor. In fact, pre Sutherland KnightMares would be destroyed with less force than a main battle tank assuming both vehicles were hit in their weak spots. 75% of the area covering the KnightMare would be equally protected as the tank's frontal armor, not superior. However, the shots fired from the KnightMares had the same explosive yield and muzzle speed but were more massive than tank shells. Their rate of fire during that war was seven times as great at the tanks, and that's nothing compared to the modern Sutherland which can fire as fast as slower automatic rifles. A single slash harken or melee attack could destroy a tank's armor, even if pilot didn't do the smart thing and just maneuverer himself to the tank's weak spot. Their speed and maneuverability were unmatched by anything on the battlefield, except helicopters which wasted more fuel just to stay in place. While bullets could hit a KnightMare, a competent pilot could doge tank shells and RPG rounds as long as he wasn't immobile (dueling another KnightMare) or within 10 meters. Getting within 10 meters of a KnightMare was hopeless without one yourself. Because of these facts, all three times they were raided by KnightMares, much equipment and recruits were captured and a base had to be abandoned.

Ogi told Lelouch that while the RPG-7 and their shaped charges were one of the best weapons the cell had, they were not used effectively. In the Battle of Shinjuku Ghetto, they had lost over 30 operators without them being engaged directly. Lelouch made further inquiries and found out they did not make any effort to use the weapon properly. Like most recoilless weapons, the RPG-7 needs to be operated with ear protection (this was done) and leave a meter of free space behind it (terrorists didn't check). Lelouch did a third facepalm as he pictured a terrorist firing one of them from a building and blowing himself up.

Lelouch told Ogi he would get in touch with him and not to allow any more non ransom kidnapping and in fact, try to limit even those if he could. Lelouch headed back to Ashford Academy. He wondered what he should do with the KnightMare he left in Shinjuku Ghetto. It was in a place the authorities would not easily find.

Lelouch was entirely drained. He didn't think it would be so much work attempting to free Suzuku. There was also the concern about Clovis. On one hand, he was glad his brother was still alive. Perhaps seeing Britannians kill off that strange girl and Suzuku was enough to let the anger get the better of him. Clovis had been a despot caring more about the security of himself and nobility than the economic wellbeing of the Elevens he ruled, but he was still his brother. Even if Suzuku was killed, Clovis did not order Suzuku's death. Only a fool would order the death of one of his loyal soldiers and it was that stupid officer who shot up Suzuku rather than listening to Suzuku that a Britannian student might not be one of the terrorists. All things considered, trying to kill Clovis was bad and he shouldn't have tried to do it, so in some sense he was glad that his brother was alive.

On the other hand, Lelouch's time was limited. If Clovis ever full awakened, he had every reason to try to kill Lelouch out of self-preservation, and Clovis knew his face. Lelouch needed to find a way to escape Ashford Academy if he was ever discovered. To be safe, he needed a contingency plan within 30 days. The terrorists don't give him any confidence after he learned about some of their operations, so he would not rely on them for self-preservation.

"I'm home" said Lelouch.

"Welcome home, Lelouch" greeted a green haired girl. She wore a white straightjacket in the unrestrained position. It was the same girl he saw got shot in the head. OK, that was two people he blamed Clovis for killing when they were actually alive. Lelouch was unable to maintain a straight face and puzzlement was over his face.

"Welcome home, brother" said Nunnally.

"It appears you already ate dinner" said the stranger, helping Nunnaly with a paper crane.

"I was worried. I thought you might be caught up in the chaos this Zero person caused" said Nunnally. "Brother C.C. came all the way to see you"

"C.C.?" said Lelouch.

"What a strange friend, only using her initials" said Nunnally.

"Yeah…" said Lelouch.

"Could it be that she's your girlfriend?" said Nunnally.

"We promised to share a future together, didn't we?" said the new girl.

"By future do you mean marriage?" asked Nunnally.

"No, no, it's not like that. She's, um, joking" said Lelouch.

"I don't like those" said the strange girl with long green hair.

"I see, brother you are unexpectedly rash. But they say 'to each his own' so it may not be so strange" said Nunnally.

Lelouch broke a cup which spilled. "What are you doing C.C.? You're all wet. Hey you need to go to the bathroom. I'll get you a change in cloths too. Nunnally, I'll clean this up right away don't move. And what she just said isn't true. A lie, a joke" said Lelouch, grabbing the strange girl's arm

Lelouch brought the newcomer into his room, turned on the lights, and shoved her, very ungraciously for someone who saved his live. "Who are you?" said Lelouch in a more assertive tone.

"I already told you, I'm C.C." said the green haired girl.

"That's not what I mean. You're…" said Lelouch.

"'Supposed to be dead'?" said C.C. "Do you like the power I gave you?"

"As I suspected you're…" said Lelouch, activating his eye.

"Are you unsatisfied?" said C.C.

"No I'm quite grateful. You pushed my schedule forward quite a bit.

"Schedule?" said C.C.

"The plan to destroy…" said Lelouch.

"'Britannia?'" said C.C., hinting she knew something about him.

"I thought it would be awhile before I could make my move" said Lelouch, suppressing his puzzlement.

"Do you think you can destroy it with just that power and some terrorists?" said C.C., anticipating the whole Zero thing.

"I was planning on destroying Britannia even without it" said Lelouch.

"As I expected you're an interesting person" said Lelouch.

"What are you going to do form now on? You're being pursued…" said Lelouch.

"'By the Army, aren't you?' Even though you say it's the army, it's only a small part of it. It'll be okay if I keep a low profile. I'll put up with it here." said C.C., throwing off her straight jacket. Before she could be seen braless she moved into the bed and pulled the sheets.

"Hey! You're planning on staying here?" said Lelouch, surprised and worried.

"Men sleep on the floor" said C.C, holding the bedsheets securely.

"That's not the point…" said Lelouch.

"If I get caught, you'll have problems too, won't you? If I sleep out there I'll get caught." said C.C.

"Not at your convenience, but mine…" said Lelouch.

"I hate persistent people" said C.C.

"You don't seem nervous about this. Anyways how…" said Lelouch.

"'Did you survive? And about that contract you were talking about'" said C.C.

Lelouch gave an annoyed look at C.C. C.C. almost looked pleased, but a smile didn't come and her mouth stayed emotionless.

"Good night Lelouch" said C.C. Lelouch owed his life to this Little Miss Snarker.

Meanwhile Princess Cornelia had won a decisive battle against an alliance of the Kingdom of Syria, Kingdom of Jordan, Kingdom of Assyria, and the Muslim Brotherhood armed private group. With over 75% of the enemy's forces destroyed in a single battle, conquest of the Middle East, except Egypt (independent within EU sphere of influence), Palestine (EU control), and Arabia (Civil War, 30 year true with Britannia not expired), was effectively complete. Cornelia and her personal unit of 3000 KnightMares had been involved in 13 battles as a single unit over the past three years and didn't suffer a single loss when they were together. Only 33 losses happened to this unit and in those times few dozen of her unit was deployed separately instead of as a whole. The Syrians had this bright idea of simply avoiding Cornelia's personal unit and retaking territory elsewhere since they could defeat members of her unit so long as they proved her into detaching individual squads. Cornelia made a full frontal assault on one of their defensive positions and the Arabs thought this was time to make their pitched battle as they heavily outnumbered Cornelia's unit. Unfortunately for them, Britannia's 13th infantry division, 33rd infantry division, 34th infantry division, 35th mechanized infantry division, and 37th KnightMare division were also part of the assault and so the Britannia outnumbered the Arabs. Whoops.

Only 1/8 of the regulars were staying. Most would return to the homeland. Three armies of them would mop up the rest of the resistance. Some of them would follow Cornelia and her unit to Area 11. "I'm sorry, I'll have you accompany me to clean up after by brother" said Cornelia, signaling their departure for Area 11.

"No, to us our country is where our princess is" said a subordinate.

"We can't use conventional tactics in Area 11" said Cornelia.

"I'm well aware of that."

"Good" said Cornelia. "I will drag you out Zero, and avenge Clovis" she continued in her mind.

Cecile and Lloyd were examining the news. "Fukushima, Kouchi, Hiroshima… that makes seven incidents since Zero appeared not including the ones claimed by the Japanese Liberation front" said Cecile.

"After Zero appeared the other groups started trying harder" said Lloyd.

"Because of the Orange Incident, Deputy Governor-General Jerimiah is losing his leadership position. De jure he is still in charge but de facto Area 11 is managed by an unofficial triumvirate of a Colonel from the army who is a Marquess and from the Purist faction, an earl from Clovis's old inner circle, and an unlanded nobleman in charge of administration married to an Honorary Britannian. No one dares request permission outside their normal authority without their unanimous approval and stalemate within the triumvirate prevents any initiative from being taken. A replacement governor general is usually sent from a month to a decade, but doubts about Jeremiah means a replacement is under way immediately" said Cecile.

"He doesn't have what it takes. Cooperation between the mainly Britannian administration and the local police, almost all of which are Honorary Britannians except Tokyo, Sendai, Hiroshima, and the rural police forces which contain more pure bloods, is in shambles. It's an inconvenience to us too" said Lloyd.

Meanwhile at the Japanese Liberation Front headquarters, the officers could not decide what to do. Some of them viewed Zero as nothing more than a distraction. Others saw an opportunity to make a stand. No matter what, they did not have adequate forces to fight a conventional war against the Britannians. In fact, corrupt Britannians were the only reason they were able to acquire their obsolete KnightMares in the first place. The Kyoto Group was merely a financial backer to some of the resistance organizations and did not know of force deposition or anything that could coordinate the disparate groups. In fact, they probably did not want to know since if caught, there would be very little evidence of any crime other than embezzlement or money laundering but any further knowledge would make it hard to deny funding terrorist organization. Don't rush it. The information that Kyoto is intending to give the Guren Mk II to Zero is not definitive. We'll fail if we depend on other organizations too much, including Zero" said Todo.

Three days later, Lelouch was busy looking through the internet on several incidents. C.C. was dressed in nothing but one of Lelouch's white shirts. She was eating peperoni pizza from Pizza Hut. "Hey what do you mean with Orange?" said C.C.

"You won't answer anyone's questions, but you'll ask me questions, huh?" said Lelouch.

"If you don't want to answer me you don't have to, just like me" said C.C.

"Orange was just something I said. But people who call themselves allies are easily divided by a thorn of suspicion" said Lelouch.

C.C grinned. Lelouch planned to have counterintelligence analysts waste their precious time. She looked over three different magazines and a newspaper all with Zero on the front. "The entire world is searching for you. The entire world is moving because of you. Lelouch is this what you wanted to see?" said C.C.

"No, this disturbance is merely part of the calculation. As a side effect of my future plans, the world will be plunged into even greater chaos" said Lelouch.

Three kilometers away some officers were discussing further plans for Area 11. The Purists did mostly achieve their goal of putting their followers into key positions in the chain of command. On the other hand, the Orange Incident loomed over them. One of the officers tapped into a police traffic camera and watched Margrave Jeremiah organize a contraband checkpoint. "We can't allow that Orange to affect Her Highness Cornelia's arrival" said Lord Kewell.

"At this rate, the loyalty of the Purist faction will be questioned" said a lieutenant in glasses.

"Is it really true that Lord Jeremiah was bribed? He saved your life before and it's difficult to doubt his loyalty" said a counterintelligence officer who was doing double time as an observer the Purists Faction used. He had a miniature headset with a microphone and a small speaker inside his right ear.

"Then what is Orange?" said Lord Kewell. The headset guy turned nervously and didn't know what to make of it. He didn't want to agree with Kewell but on the other hand, not agreeing didn't make much sense of the previous events. "At any rate, there is something suspicious about Lord Jeremiah" he continued.

Villetta Nu was observing the same broadcast. "Lord Jeremiah's memories are jumbled. The same happened to seven other KnightMare pilots who had their Sutherlands stolen at Shinjuku" she thought. And there was her own incident. It's true the terrorist probably cooped a military train carrying a load of KnightMares, and they got them that way, but something didn't add up.

Villetta remembered being impressed as a teenager how one of her friends lived the high life. Villetta thought she was a princess, but her friend was actually daughter of a countess. That didn't register for some time. She had joined the Army and was made a Knight of Honor. Villetta spent a considerable amount of her adult life looking for a place to belong. Three different groups were joined, but while she took some enjoyment, she didn't think she completely fit in. One example was a group that seemed to be full of airheaded women. The parties were fun and some of the men they met took her to wonderful places and she even had a crush on one of them… but she didn't exactly fit in either.

Villetta was somewhat worried about her family. There was her older brother, two little sisters, and her niece. Her siblings were not living lavishly which should guarantee financial safety, but they all worked with a company with questionable stability. It even went bankrupt and laid 70% of its employees, although her siblings were spared and it became solvent… for the moment. Britannia doesn't have a socialized health care system and private health and life insurers are required by law to charge triple in premiums what they would expect to pay out. Some of it went no noblemen, but a lot of the extra charge just went into company coffers since Britannia didn't believe in supporting the civilian sick unless the sick could pay for it. Britannian philosophers have debated if insurance destroys survival for the fittest if one had to have afforded it in the first place since the uninsured poor aren't treated, but the bottom line was that Villetta's family was one injury away from disaster.

For her own income, Villetta earned triple as much as the average Britannian pureblood. On the other hand, being a Knight of Honor did not make her family unlanded nobles like an earl would. More importantly, heredity nobility offered continued benefits to her family after her generation. While winning a large lottery would give her family financial security for a long time if they spent wisely, even that didn't give the prestige of hereditary nobility. She never thought she could advance past Knight of Honor. The fourth group she joined was the Purist Faction, but she didn't seem to belong here either. In the Cambodia Campaign, she defeated three KnightMares alone apparently saving the life of an officer whose energy filler was low. It was Margrave Jeremiah. He revealed she didn't save his life, but she did save them the battle by not forcing him to be seen escaping through an area he planned to counterattack later. Despite Lord Jeremiah being three ranks higher than her instead of one, Villetta stuck with him instead of her immediate superior for the campaign. Afterwards, they found out that they had the same taste in music, wine, and baseball. Jeremiah brought Villetta to a different group of Purists. There were generals, administrators, but also low level officers who were mostly nobles and well connected so would rise soon, such as Villetta herself. She got along with them. Jeremiah explained the Area 11 situation and his own experiences when he was present. On the way back there Villetta listened to him and became a Purist ideologically instead of merely claiming membership and supporting individual Purists. For factional struggles within the Area 11 administration, Villetta didn't do much other than give favorable character testimony, be Lord Jermiah's number one supporter, and look pretty. As a KnightMare pilot, an administrative assistant, and Jeremiah's observer for the Tokyo area, she was superb. Lord Jeremiah didn't give his march or any of his counties to Villetta, but he promised her the possibility of being a hereditary knight, a baroness, or even a countess.

Villetta vaguely remembered seeing a Britannian student in Shinjuku, but couldn't' remember much more than that. None of the others with a stolen KnightMare reported seeing anyone odd. She didn't realize this was because she was Geassed too late after a failed attempt.

At the main Area 11 Tokyo administrative building, Suzuku was finishing a court martial with a tribunal of three officers. This floor was dedicated to the military. The prosecutor read the original evidence against Suzuku. Suzuku was prepared to repeat his deposition about his alibi. He expected the other side to question it given Cecile wasn't actually paying attention to the time and the uncertainty of when Clovis was shot, giving him a window for attempted murder. Instead, the tribunal reached a conclusion and didn't let Suzuku get a word in. "Private Kururugi Suzuku of the district 11 army, ID 14-1075, we declare you acquitted from suspicion of Prince Clovis's attempted murder due to lack of evidence" said one officer. Suzuku walked away from the building puzzled that only now did the authorities investigate the accusations properly. H put on some sunglasses. He didn't want to get recognized so soon after this week's chaos.

"Please get out of the way!" said a voice from above. Suzuku was puzzled. "Look out!"

Suzuku caught a pink haired girl with a long dress coming from the administrative building. He made sure to unlock his knees and collapsed on the catch. "Um, are you okay?" said Suzuku.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think there would be anyone below" said the pink haired girl.

"Um, yeah. I didn't think there would be a girl falling from above either" said Suzuku.

"Oh?" said the pink haired girl.

"Is something wrong" said Suzuku.

"Yes! Something is wrong" said the girl, with a smile not quite consistent with her statement. "To tell you the truth, I'm being chased by some bad people. So could you please help me?" Suzuku saw a bedsheet ladder from where the girl probably came from. It went 3/4 of the way down to the ground. Looks pretty legit.

Suzuku and the girl ran for half an hour before slowing down to walk. If they acted part, anyone trailing would think them to be part of the crowd. The Tokyo concession gave an appearance of crystal spires, glass, and silicon. In a strange way, from far away it could have been Roman architecture with shiny, although as you came within a hundred meters or so, appearances normalized. "I haven't introduced myself yet did I? I am… Euphie" said the pink haired girl.

"I am…" said Suzuku about to take off his sunglasses.

"You shouldn't do that. You're a famous person, and right now not for a good reason. The son of Kururugi Genbu, Kururugi Suzuku.

"You lied about being chased by bad people didn't you" said Suzuku looking back.

"Annoying is bad isn't it" said Euphemia, wandering off and paying more attention to a cat than the conversation. It had darkened fur around the right eye, a front paw, and tail. It rubbed its soft face against Euphemia. She held it up. Suzuku reached his hand out to the cat, which promptly bit his finger.

Cecile and Lloyd drove up to the indented meeting spot. "We're half an hour late. I hope he's waiting for us nearby" said Lloyd. They had their part to the Lancelot back, but not much else was going correctly. The third person to their team was temporary and the technician was a courtesy from Clovis, not officially within the Special Envoy's organization chart.

"But was he really acquitted?" said Cecile.

"Apparently for the lack of evidence. Well, it looks like it was throughouly investigated after that incident with zero. Huh, what the…?" said Lloyd. He thought he saw Suzuku with someone important

"Do you dislike cats?" said Euphemia.

"Well, I like them…" said Suzuku reaching out to the cat. It hissed with displeasure. "It appears to be a one-sided love."

"Kind people are the ones who have one-sided love" said Euphemia. The can suddenly got interested in something else and started running off. "Please come with me for a bit!" she said grabbing Suzuku's hand.

Suzuku showed Euphemia places around Tokyo. The pair went window shopping through a high end shopping district, enjoyed the view of a park, and had some crepes. It was an enjoyable hour. Suzuku learned that Euphie was a high school student from the motherland. She tried to hide it, but when she paid for her crepe with cash, Suzuku could see the girl was loaded. Euphie wanted to see what sort of place Area 11 was. For almost all of Tokyo, it was just like being in Britannia. Meanwhile Cecile and Lloyd followed. They walked by a large television screen.

"Suzuku, could you take me to one more place?" said Euphemia.

"You may request anything of me, princess" said Suzuku bowing.

"Then to Shinjuku. Please show me Shinjuku Kururugi Suzuku" said Euphemia.

A plane was flying away from Tokyo. 32 soldiers, a pilot, a copilot, a hitchhiking pilot, a flight engineer, and a prisoner were heading to Pendragon. Three of the soldiers saw in the same room as the prisoner. They had standard gas mask/HUD display helmets on and were cradling their firearms. General Bartley was the prisoner. "To go to the homeland like this… I shouldn't have gotten involved in that strange girl. Still, objectively, there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by me except incompetence which nearly led to Clovis's death, and I wasn't part of his guarding unit" thought Bartley.

Lelouch spent some of a break period on the internet. He needed a method to disappear with 170 hours of lead time. Currently, he had no way to disappear with a whole month of lead time. He had some gambling funds, but he needed to provide an excuse to leave the Ashfords behind. Since he did not want to harm those who had sheltered Nunnally and him, he wanted a way that would not harm them.

"Lelouch, are you free?" said Kallen.

"Hm? What is it?" said Lelouch.

"It's about that phone call from before" said Kallen.

"Phone call?" said Lelouch. He was genuinely puzzled as he forgot he was present when Kallen took the recorded phone call, in fact doing it simultaneously was the whole point.

"That, uh, time in the bathroom" said Kallen. Lelouch remembered immediately. That Zero stunt took a lot of willpower recently. Lelouch was certainly afraid of messing up and getting killed. Still, no matter how much willpower he needed to summon for a moment, it doesn't excuse forgetting other events. While that may be typical for a normal Britannian student, forgetting details would mess Lelouch's plan quite a bit. He needed to get used to remembering details, no matter what else may have his attention at the moment. "Do you know if there are any call logs? I want to contact that person" continued Kallen.

"It's the school's phone, so I don't think…" said Lelouch. He then immediately saw C.C. ten meters behind Kallen in one of his motorcycle, spinning clockwise and drinking a soda. Her long green hair gave a whirl.

"I see. I thought so too" said Kallen, not bothering to contest the fact that Lelouch was on the student council. While a normal council would have no way of using school records, Miley was the student council present.

"That girl…" mumbled Lelouch, balling up his hands in fists.

"What?" said Kallen, turning. Lelouch immediately held Kallen in place, touching her cheeks. Kallen gasped. C.C. walked away. "What are you doing?" said Kallen. Unlike making threats in the shower, she did become louder or give any change in personality. It merely sounded as if she was puzzled.

"Uh, what indeed" said Lelouch. There should have been an easier way to prevent her from looking. He brought C.C. to the roof of one of the school buildings. "Are you an idiot?" he asked C.C. "Don't just go wandering around"

"I'm OK as long as I'm within school grounds. Don't be so strict" said C.C.

"No, you're an outsider here" said Lelouch. The girl might have had a point, but he wanted to make sure that if she was stealing his bed, he might as well try to get her to keep him informed of her whereabouts and intuitions.

"I'm an outsider no matter where I go. Get me a steak dinner. I'll eat it with the last slice of leftover pizza" said C.C. Lelouch saw that while the girl's primary purpose for following up here was related to food, her tone suggested she was enjoying deflecting his protests as a bonus while she was at it. C.C. noticed a girl in an Ashford Academy with sharp chisel carving a symbol into the wall. "What's with that person?"

"Oh. So she's at it again. What did you call this power?" said Lelouch.

"Geass. It is the power of absolute obedience. Given your own ideological beliefs on the ideal society, it's certainly ironic. You did admit it was convenient" said C.C.

"I used Geass to make her leave what she is doing every Thursday at a specific time and go to a place to carve a symbol, with this wall as a preferred target" said Lelouch as the girl finished.

"A test to find the duration, huh?" said C.C., mildly impressed.

"It's best to understand the specs of your weapon isn't it? If you act too selfishly, then…" said Lelouch.

"I wonder if it would work on me" said C.C. apparently she understood the implied threat and gone from impressed to amused. "Don't worry, you and I are accomplices. I wouldn't do anything that would put us in an unfavorable position" said C.C.

Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald sortied from the army base in his KnightMare. "Is the information about Zero true?" he said.

"Yes. It's information from Lord Kewell" said the counterintelligence officer who was off duty and sitting in a Purist base/

"All right. Deploy a cordon on the 4th zone of the Shinjuku ghetto" ordered Jeremiah.

"Understood grand lord" said the officer, deactivating his com. "We'll leave the rest up to you Lord Kewell" he said. It was out of his hands now and he could kid himself his conscience was clear.

Suddenly a sword appeared next to him. "I wanted to talk to Lord Jeremiah, but it seems now's not the time" said Villetta.

The counterintelligence officer ran through his thoughts quickly. He erased the frequency Jeremiah contacted him with, making it impossible for them to communicate with him without using a general channel that could be heard by all military, Tokyo Police, and aristocrat civilians who actually wanted to listen. There were three of them and all of them had handguns in their holsters. The officer was sitting down and not in a good position to fight. If he grabbed his gun, she might easily kill him, but buy enough time for the other two to respond. Villetta might only get one stab on his colleague after killing him before they could shoot. Depending on Jeremiah's true loyalty and the nature of the Orange thing, Villetta could very well be illegally threatening them and jeopardizing a cleansing operation against a traitor.

On the other hand, he had his own doubts. It didn't seem logical for Lord Jeremiah to betray Britannia or even the Area 11 administration; some nobles did plot around the local administration to get their own agenda without direct defiance of the motherland, although since legalistically this is wrong they would still be traitors. Perhaps deep down he thought Lord Kewell had just gotten a bug of the paranoia. He didn't doubt they had a mole, but did doubt it was Jeremiah, even after that incident. "Lord Kewell believes Jeremiah has betrayed the Area 11 administration and he has his own agenda different that both the economic and stability goals of the administration and the ideological goals of the purist faction. Kewell is initiating a purge as we speak"

"Get out of here you Britannian pigs!" said Tamaki, a brown haired Eleven terrorist who was trying and failing to grow a goatee. He was also failing to lie low on the orders of Ogi. Apparently the young terrorist thought he was away from eyes of surveillance of the authorities in a ghetto and for the most part he was correct. He threw down a camera from one of the two tourists. They had intended to take pictures of themselves in front of three different areas of Shinjuku, including an old monument.

"What? You're just an Eleven!" said the Britannian Camera owner in some kind of strange cap.

"We're Japanese! Don't call us Elevens!" said Tamaki. If the off-duty terrorists were here to mug the Britannians, they were doing so miserably, out of the shadows, in line of sight of anyone within 10 meters, and had already damaged an item worth money on the black market. On the other hand, if they were blowing off some steam after losing so many allies at Shinjuku and failing to protect the civilians there, it made some sense since they did not threaten violence until being called "Elevens" for the umpteenth time.

"What are you saying? You lost to us you dogs of a defeated island country" said the other Britannian. He had dark hair in a ponytail.

"You Britannian devil…" said the terrorist, balling his hand into a fist. His two compatriots closed the distance to the Britannians.

"Please stop! Don't resort to violence!" said Suzuku.

"Don't get in the way!" said the terrorist, slapping Suzuku's sunglasses away. "You're Kururugi Suzuku"

"The guy who shot Clovis" said another.

"You idiot, it was Zero who did it" said the third.

"This guy is just a slave. So what if he's an Honorary Britannian? Selling out your pride, comrades, and soul… you still call yourself Japanese?" said Tamaki, preparing a punch. "You Britannian dog!" he started to throw his punch.

Suzuku moved 3 centimeters to avoid the blow and grabbed the Eleven's arm as it passed. His other hand reached for the chest to act as a pivot and he threw the hapless terrorist. "Please stop. I've received training. I don't want to act against my own comrades…" pleased Suzuku.

"What do you mean by comrades?" demanded Tamaki.

"Hey! Let it go" said his comrade. There was no way this street fight could be won, and it would attract too much attention anyways. In fact, they were already sort of wasting their time.

"That traitor…" muttered the brown haired terrorist as he walked away.

"Suzuku? Are you OK?" said Euphemia.

"Yeah" said Suzuku.

"It's no okay. My prime G and MX4…" said the camera owner looking at rather extensive physical damage. "You should have finished them off. You're just an Honorary. Who do you think feeds you…" continued the ungrateful bastard.

Euphemia stepped up and slapped the tourist in the face hard enough, his arms reacted violently and sent the camera onto the ground once more "I will not let you insult this man any further!" said the pink haired girl.

Lelouch had left the city before this particular day and used several subjects to test Geass. While the duration test needed to be done at Ashford Academy, the others could be done in the ghetto, where he could scout out potential converts and asses the sentiment. 32 of them were used to test distances. In three of those cases he obtained EEG and MRI tests at the expense of his gambling winnings. One of the testers proved the ability to penetrate glass. Three of them were used to detail what kind of orders could be dealt. It seems that a very complicated order with many conditionals involving complicated visual patterns can be issued. In another example, he told an Eleven burglar to kill all Japanese. Lelouch used the stolen Nightmare to stop the Geassed Eleven three times before reminding him, without a Geass, that after Britannia conquered Japan, the people were renamed and as such there were no longer any Japanese left, only Elevens. The tint of the man's eyes disappeared and he reverted to normal behavior. Innocent casualties were going to be inevitable if he followed his plans. Lelouch didn't mind killing him if this experiment proved him wrong since, once again this was a burglar and not innocent and therefore his life was expendable.

"In order to use Geass, one must look directly into the target's eyes. There is no problem penetrating through things like glasses" said Lelouch. C.C. started putting on her straight jacket. "Maximum distance is 100 meters. Target must be able to hear the order, as such the 75 meter, 90 meter, 100 meter, and 102 meter tests needed to be done with the aid of walkie-talkies. A physically impossible order is not followed and it only makes the target immune to further Geass attempts. It is assumed that a paradoxical order will have the same effect. After having Geass cast on them, or when it is in effect, there is a noticeable gap in memory. This is thought to be caused by the Geass invading the cerebrum, hippocampus, and mammillary bodies. If it has the property of light, reflection should be possible" said Lelouch to himself while comparing the brain scans to known neurology. It was really for his own benefit as it was likely that C.C. already knew all of the details.

"I'm surprised you quickly put the lives of all those Elevens in Shinjuku online with that "Kill all Japanese" order. No, perhaps you were prepared to kill the burglar if pointing out there were only Elevens failed. You've studied the Geass in death so quickly" said C.C.

"The opponent is an empire which has subdued over a third of the world. There's no such thing as too much discretion" said Lelouch.

"Understandable for Elevens, but you're Britannian aren't you? Britannian is too large and powerful to fight with just Geass. In fact, the Emperor and his homeland units are too powerful for you and some terrorists to overpower even should you recapture Japan" said C.C.

"So I should become stronger?" said Lelouch.

"I wonder if it's wrong to be weak. Not in the physical sense, but I'm conflicted in my mind. At that time, for us ten year olds, the world appeared to be a sad place. For Japan, it certainly was" said Suzuku. He and Euphemia were looking over the graves of civilians killed in the Shinjuku Ghetto incident.

"Suzuku…" said Euphemia.

"It's not just the ungrateful Britannian insulting me after I helped him with some thugs. My friend and I saw many things"

Lelouch thought to the time of the Britannian invasion. He explained to C.C. all he and Suzuku had seen wrong with the world. In the early days of the war, power was cut off, spoiling food. This alone caused most of Japan's 24% drop in population in the invasion. "Hunger" said Lelouch.

"Sickness" said Suzuku, thinking about a cholera outbreak after surrender.

"Corruption. Decay" said Lelouch, thinking of the Area 11 administration.

"Discrimination" said Suzuku, thinking of how as an Honorary Britannian, he was still looked down upon by the pure blood Britannian.

"War and terrorism" thought Lelouch, remembering first the invasion of Japan and then how he nearly got killed by the terrorists he saved… before the military he thought he would need to rely on assumed he was one of them and tried to kill Suzuku.

"The endless chain of hatred" said Suzuku, thinking of the modern Area 11.

At this point, as if united by an unseen force, Suzuku and Lelouch as well as their companions the witch and the princess spoke in unison.

"A foolish vicious cycle. Someone must break this chain" said Lelouch and Suzuku.

"Quite an idealist" said the girls, C.C. pessimistically and Euphemia surprised given he was recently falsely accused of a crime. C.C. faced a wall and gave Lelouch a view of her posterior.

"Of course, I don't think that it's possible to get rid of all of it. I'm not that arrogant. That's why I want…" said Lelouch and Suzuku.

"A world without war" said Suzuku.

"Revenge and justice, followed by making a safe heaven" said Lelouch thinking about Charles, Marianne, and Nunnally.

"A place where we won't lose those dear to us" they finished in unison.

"Such a convenient world… what can you do to accomplish it?" said C.C. and Euphemia. C.C. this time gave no emotion on either her face or voice. Euphemia felt pity.

At this point, the unison unseen by the childhood friends was broken. "It's easy. The fighting stops when someone wins" said Lelouch, knocking over a chess piece with a grin.

"Someone?" said C.C.

"I don't know yet, but if I stop striving for it my father would have died in vain" said Suzuku, looking at his father's stopped pocket watch. He knew he didn't have the details worked out yet even on paper. But he needed to try.

"Prime Minister Kururugi's…" said Euphemia thinking of Suzuku's father who died in that war.

"In that way, my father had to die!" said Suzuku. For the moment, he believes in his father suicide over the helplessness of Japan's defense. They were interrupted by sounds of heavy vehicles.

Lord Jeremiah Gottwald arrived in Shinjuku ghetto. In addition to the cordon, he had ordered 34 KnightMare pilots to be on standby in their cockpits. 3 special infantry platoon, 3 regular mechanized units, a helicopter and 10 platoons were ready to be mobilized and enter the ghetto at his order. A platoon of 35 was waiting outside the ghetto. In his KnightMare he felt safe enough to investigate Kewell's Intel alone. An anti-tank rocket wouldn't hit a novice KnightMare pilot unless he got within 10 meters. Jeremiah talked to another one of his fellow purists. All the KnightMare guns were at base, except his. There were no maintenance issues.

Suddenly, a group of seven Sutherlands attacked Jeremiah. He was stunned. Jeremiah started firing in the general direction of four of the enemies who were clustered together for a charge. They dodged the un-aimed suppressive fire. "What's wrong? These terrorists are like professionals. While un-aimed fire is worse than using the fact-sphere and ballistics calculation or even eyeball aiming, this would normally result in a few hits." he thought. Three of the KnightMares in the charge ended up in contact. Jeremiah recognized the melee weapons, which were strange for the situation. Aristocrats sometimes augmented a KnightMare with customization that was moderately expensive, impossible to mass produce, difficult to use quietly (Sutherland is capable of minimal noise melee combat at the expense of speed, in case a 3 and a half story high mecha need to be stealthy and it was too dark to see it) and only offered marginal improvements. They would not be in a train waiting to be stolen by terrorists.

Jeremiah managed to us his skill to knock the three foes down, but others were going towards him. He retreated around a ruin. Jeremiah watched one KnightMare pass by. Another came and Jeremiah launched his slash harken. One hit on the leg. He filled the enemy with bullets, causing destruction of most of the machine and an ejection. One down, six to go. His slash harken retracted and it would take some time to be usable again.

Another machine tried to lance Jeremiah's KnightMare. He dodged it and tried to counterattack. Suddenly, three anti-tank rockets came from spate ruins. Jeremiah was forced to lose ground and his machine lost its footing, a knee slammed into the ground. Another foe tried to attack him while he was down. Jeremiah punched the leg and got up. He was under attack by all of the enemies by this time, dodging a lance attack and thee sets of slash harkens at the same time. Jeremiah grabbed the enemy he damaged and tossed it. This would cause enough damage to probably render it immobile, but he followed up with three shots, all of them penetrations. Jeremiah ran away using the railroad tracks for extra speed since the land spinners are more efficient there, not bothering to see that he had indeed the enemy KnightMare's own pilot believe the situation was unsalvageable and ejected.

Jeremiah could see three of them were in walker mode and heading stadium. Another was rolling in the streets, trying to find him. He probably lost them. "Michael, this is Margrave Jeremiah. Send in your platoon. You have automatics weapons, a flamethrower, and 3 bazooka operators. I am under attack by the terrorists in Sutherlands. Three of them are proceeding towards the north park"

"Ok we're coming. Wait, did you say Sutherland? Let me check. Nope we can't come. Those three are friendlies. Also, we were told not to come within 100 meters of this unit with this IFF signal" said Colonel Uzumaki, an Honorary Britannian who used bribery to pass the rank of Major which he legitimately earned.

"Where is Lieutenant Michael?" demanded Jeremiah.

"He's next to me. I came to him when I was ordered to take control of this platoon with him as an advisor. He's three positions below me in the chain of command, so it's legit. Anyways, those are the order"

Jeremiah considered using his authority as Margrave to override the odd order. "What is the IFF code you are checking for the 'friendlies'?" said Jeremiah. He got the code, but before he could put it in, he was under attack again. This time, his slash harken was dodged. Jeremiah fried to fire the gun, but the enemy was close enough to grab it and force it to be aimed at the ceiling. The two of them went into a balance duel and Jeremiah won. He punched the enemy's fact sphere and started firing. Another ejection, although it only moved 100 meters before glancing a wall. Jeremiah didn't bother to pursue.

If the enemy was headed towards that direction, at land spinner speed they should have reached a certain landmark. Jeremiah moved to an old baseball stadium. This was in the same direction as the trio, but only one third of the distance they should have traveled. Jeremiah eyed a lone KnightMare. It was probably the one that spread out to search for him. Jeremiah decided the disadvantage in melee equipment he had could be made with a surprise attack. A Sutherland's punch carried much more momentum that the shell the gun fired. He hurriedly entered in the IFF code. Now he could see anyone broadcasting that code. In addition to the position signal, the KnightMare will record all pilot conversation and emit a short 10 meter audio signal of the pilot. Jeremiah could select an icon and listen. But he didn't' see a lone icon, but three more to his right. Jeremiah dodged another attack, and selected a 'friendly' icon.

"We had to no bring guns. He knows the logistics chain and if he's trying to make sure the supply situation is good, he might accidentally discover us if we sortied with them. I don't think we can really trust that Honorary, but it doesn't matter. We can defeat the platoons if they come. They were only expecting to deal with terrorists and maybe a few JLF tanks if they somehow managed to smuggle that in. Rats, Orange got out of my hands again" said the voice.

"Lord Kewell? What is the meaning of this" demanded Jeremiah, activating his speakers.

"Today we will make you pay for the sin of allowing the murderer of Prince Clovis to escape" said Lord Kewell, turning on his own speakers.

"Cowardly Kewell! You lied about having located Zero!" said Jeremiah. The battle took a pause and a standoff started.

"Before her Highness Cornelia arrives, we must cleanse the shame committed by our own comrade. Jeremiah, this is a purge!" said Kewell. He charged and hit a wall, creating the noise Suzuku and Euphemia heard.

Lloyd and Cecile arrived to pick up Suzuku. They spied on him until losing him when they entered the ghetto and finding them again just now, no longer content to wait. The door of the special envoy truck opened up.

"Suzuku! It's dangerous, get on!" said Cecile as the teenagers ran to the truck.

"The Purist Faction is having an internal conflict. Let's get out of here. Oh and how unfortunate you were found innocent and released. You'll have to deal with us again" said Lloyd, teasing Suzuku.

"Please wait! Wouldn't this be a good chance to get battle data on the Lancelot?" said Suzuku. Cecile gasped in fear. Lloyd was pleasantly surprised. Euphemia was worried. "Sorry Euphie, this is where we bid farewell. I have to go"

Meanwhile Jeremiah had an opportunity to shoot down Kewell before melee range. It was unlikely to score killing blow, but at least damaging either the frontal armor or the legs would mean it was only three intact and one damaged KnightMares against an intact KnightMare. However, he hesitated and instead of firing dozens of shots, only managed to get of three that overshot before the assault rifle was knocked out of the hand and pierced by a lance. "Damnit. Seven… I mean four on one" said Jeremiah. He activated an electrical weapon attached to his KnightMare arm and tried to attack, only to be met by Kewell's lance.

"Don't worry Jeremiah, we'll announce that you died in battle. There will be no shame to your family name!" said Kewell. Jeremiah fended him off but another Purist Faction Splinter member attacked him from the side, forcing him to an unfavorable position to dodge the lance which ended up in the ground.

"Are you serious? Are you seriously going to kill me Kewelll?!" demanded Jeremiah, fending off a body slam. He was furious and fended it off in an unfavorable way, causing him to lose more ground. If he was pinned to even a low lying wall in a three to one KnightMare fight, he was doomed if they were better equipped than him, which they were after the gun was gone.

"Shut up Orange! Why do you think we exist? It's for the glory of the royal house, isn't it?"

"All hail Britannia" said the Pureblood Faction Splinter group. Three of them charged with lances and the other was going for a body slam off Jeremiah's center of mass. Jeremiah calmed down enough to see a counter. He would be able to use his electrical attack and temporarily disable an attacker's leg, as well as damaging its armor there and on the front. He could then shove him away and lose more ground to avoid the other three. However, there was only so much ground he could give. Suddenly, a slash harken appeared and glanced off Kewell. "Please stop! Don't fight amongst yourselves as Britannians" said Suzuku in the white KnightMare.

"That's the Honorary Britannian. The mobile weapon Lancelot" said Jeremiah.

"You report to the officer of the Special Envoy right? What does the Special Envoy want? If you are going to interfere, we'll kill you regardless of who you are!" said Kewell.

"No! I can't allow a meaningless fight to go on" said Suzuku, drawing two swords and activating the blades.

"MVS? So they've been put into use?" said Lord Kewell, oblivious to the fact that they were NOT put in use for the very reason that attempting to make the crystals in the certain shape they needed was so precise, 3000 failures resulted for each success to make just one component using a specialized piece of equipment that is the only kind in the world thanks to the parent company going out of business. The failures are nothing but scrap material and the whole process of making them was expensive, unscalable, and inefficient. "But I'm not backing down" said Kewell. He fired his slash harken which was dodged.

"Amongst your own comrades" said Suzuku, dismayed at the disunity. He used the MVS to cut the right slash harken of three KnightMares that fired at him. Into melee, he fought, stabbing the arm of a KnightMare and forcing another form its feet to end up on the back. But three on one was difficult against those who actually know how to use a KnightMare, unlike the terrorists, and he lost an MVS.

"If I can just take our Orange…" said Kewell, advancing with a lance. He hit a section of the right arm of Jeremiah's Sutherland. It was a special plate that covered 90 degrees of the 360 possible around the right arm and it offered additional protection. Before Jeremiah thought he was probably done for. Now he had an ally, but that ally was busy and he was pinned in a vulnerable spot with not enough time to get up from his knees. If anything, the situation was worse, from unlikely to win but possible if keep dodging indefinitely to what looked like a lost cause.

A Sutherland came from over the stadium stands and punched Kewell. "Lord Jeremiah!" said Villetta.

"Is that Villetta? Thanks!" said Jeremiah. He picked up the fallen MVS. Cut off from a machine with the correct port, it only used a third of its possible power and it was time limited before it would become a very heavy pointy non-brittle electronic.

"Everyone back off" said Lord Kewell. The other Purist faction Splinter group members complied.

"Kewell? So we've come to an understanding?" said Suzuku. Rationally, with four on three, this made sense. Also Suzuku didn't see what Britannians fighting each other accomplished. However, he also knew this skirmish was emotional and surprised Kewell stopped thinking emotionally.

"I'll use the Chaos Depth Charge" said Kewell, proving Suzuku currently wrong and his first assumption correct. It was a powerful weapon that pilots bought for themselves because it was stupidly expensive for a one shot weapon.

"Don't let that hit you! You shield is inadequate" said Jeremiah.

"Stop!" said Euphemia, rushing into the ruined stadium.

"What?" said Jeremiah. He moved to shield the pink haired girl and kept his hand on the ejection button, afraid he would not hit it in the window the Sutherland was disabled before the ejection system too was disabled. Villetta moved out of the way.

Suzuku moved the Lancelot in front of Euphemia and Jeremiah and activated the shield. High speed projectiles started spewing out, hitting the shield. It was only 30% done when the shield failed. The Lancelot took severe damage to the left leg, the left slash harken sport, and the left fact sphere which was exposed since Suzuku never thought to close it for protection when he had a shield. His shield generator wouldn't work even if he recharged it since it was blown out. Roller movement was only possible if someone pushed the Lancelot and it was no longer capable of charging on the rollers, but thankfully walker movement was only slightly impaired as it managed to miss critical components. The armor was wrecked in multiple places. If the Chaos Depth Charge spat out uniformly, the Lancelot would have taken extensive damage likely immobilized or possibly even disabled. Fortunately, it releases them rather randomly. Just like one can roll 30 6s on a fair die in a row, it was possible to not take extensive damage when close to the Chaos Depth Charge, although not something one would want to count on.

"That honorary Britannian used himself as a shield for the Britannian civilian and Lord Jeremiah…" said Villetta, surprised. She had not seen Suzuku risk his own life by entering the fight in the first place on his own accord.

"Both sides, lower your weapons!" demanded Euphemia.

Kewell took a look at the pink haired girl. She looked almost like "It can't be…" said Kewell. No one had pictures of the 3rd princess as of 37 months ago. Not too many people paid attention to her, but Kewell and a lot of Purists have a general idea of who she is. The girl did look very much like an older Euphemia.

"I am the 3rd princess of Britannia, Euphemia li Britannia" said Euphemia.

"Euphie?" said Suzuku, surprised.

"I am taking control of this area. Step away" said Euphemia.

"As I thought, Her Highness the Princess" said Jeremiah. He didn't need to look up a database on the royal family, which would have been three years out of date on pictures anyway, to recognize Euphemia.

"Did you know that Lloyd" said Cecile.

"Mm. She rarely appeared to the public because she was a student" said Lloyd. He was leaning into a wall, an arm with a bent elbow, that hand pushing on the side of his head, a leg on the ground, and the other leg pushed against the doorway he was in.

"I am truly… I am truly sorry" said Lord Kewell, moving his KnightMare into a salute position. The other Purists followed suit. Suzuku left his cockpit and tries to prostrate.

"Suzuku, just as you have lost your father, I may lose my older brother Clovis. In fact, I likely have. Those injuries are usually fatal. Will you lend me what's left of your strength so that no others have to lose those dear to them?" said Euphemia in a heavy tone.

"Yes! Your kind words are more than I am worth of!" said Suzuku, dropping to his knee and reaching his left arm over his chest.

Later that night, Cornelia had arrived in Tokyo. "I heard about Lord Kewell, Don't do such reckless things" said Cornelia.

"I am truly sorry elder sister, but…" said Euphemia.

"While we are here, call me Governor-General, Vice Governor General-Euphemia. A distinction is needed since we are siblings" cut off Cornelia.

"Yes, I understand" said Euphemia.

Cornelia smiled and then turned towards an aide. "So about action taken…"

"Yes, the administration has already completed the preparations to welcome the princesses" said the aide before Cornelia turned a handgun on him.

"You are lacking. You are weak. You are lazy. What about Zero? You had enough time to prepare for our arrival and gather intelligence at the same time. He is the enemy of the Empire and must be stopped!" said Cornelia.

The next day, Lelouch was in for a surprise. He did read small article in a print newspaper about the acquittal of Suzuku. Lelouch thought that would be the end of it for a few weeks, but he had a surprise in homeroom. "From today on, I will be a student at Ashford Academy. I'm Kururugi Suzuku. Please to meet you" said the transfer student.

Author's Note: There are a few reasons I started from the begining. one is I wanted to start with small changes that escalates to a tipping point where Lelouch finally decides to take a gamble. I'm also trying to make Jerimiah a bit deeper, while keeping the awesome and loyalty. Another reason to start formt he begining is that I wanted someone who only looked at the wikipedia article and didn't watch any episodes to be able to follow this. In other words, it will not just be a fanfiction, but a story that is readable and complete. Another thing is that there are two plot holtes from canon I can't resolve. In episode 1, C.C. didn't tell Lelouch his pwoer was called "Geass" in her speel and later lelouch did not geass MULTIPLE Sutherland pilots, leaving one wondering how many pilots ended up with jumbled memories... I'm probably going to make some edits over this weekend to fix those. A third concern I had about this section is that... well I know I'm making changes add up but maybe I'm changing Jermiah too much. If I didn't exlicitly put in the ejections, I would have raised his body count in his pre-Lelouch loyalty phase... by three nominal ALLIES. Canon has him in the middle of the stadium with no clue how the combat initiated and he (probably) didn't threaten to kill Kewell (who was trying to kill him) for example, he fought them to a standstill despite being outnumbered and his gun taken from him. Also, isn't obeying all of my line breaks making some sections look more disorganized than my word document


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